Chapter 8

.::A Dark and Stormy Morning::.

Rain pelted the streets as Shouto hurried down the sidewalk towards the bus station, tugging the hood of his plastic poncho further over his head to try to deflect the heavy drops from hitting his eyes.

The storm had struck hard and heavy the previous night around eleven, and had not let up even now over twelve hours later. He'd already taken cover in a net café for a majority of it, paying the necessary fee for a ten-hour block mere minutes before the first drop fell. It had been pricier than he'd hoped and it must have shown on his face, because the worker gave him a free drink and even offered him a spare rain poncho she'd just bought. He really needed to thank her more.

He'd spent most of the night doing intensive research on this new world, sleeping only about two hours total, and only because he figured a short nap would be better than nothing. Sleep didn't come easily after everything he'd learned anyway; his dreams had been plagued with nightmarish visions of UA being attacked and All Might falling at that fateful battle in Kamino. After waking up in a cold sweat, he'd been reluctant to look into the current leading heroes or any of his teachers, dreading what he'd find.

He did find plenty of other useful information though, finally getting a name for the city in the process. To his immense surprise he was in Shikotori, a small but lively city about half an hour east of the port city Numazu by train or bus, and a little over one and a half hours south of Musutafu. In retrospect, it explained the prevalence of seafood restaurants in town. That said, it didn't matter too much since he planned to leave soon.

At present, Shouto saw no point in going to Musutafu. UA had shut down, cutting off the most valuable potential resource there, and even if it had still existed he wasn't sure it'd be worth trying. He couldn't see himself easily convincing the staff he originated from another dimension, and he didn't exactly have any evidence for his story. That same reasoning also eliminated most hero agencies—not that he'd found many public ones, further limiting his potential resources.

Instead, he decided to start with the lead he'd found the previous day: Tokoyami.

Further research into Gentle Criminal and Phantom Shadow had only solidified his suspicions that the cloaked figure was his classmate, several videos clearly showing him using Dark Shadow. Tokoyami tended to lurk in the background more often than not, letting Gentle Criminal take the lead in his online monologues and heists. It was obvious that the older man was the leader in the partnership, and so most people tended to focus on him more than his silent cloaked companion.

As it stood, Gentle's roaring popularity meant Shouto had plenty of information available. All the articles he'd read painted the thief as far more morally scrupulous than most villains, usually performing his heists to draw attention to corporate corruption. He minimized damage to property and people as much as possible, going out of his way to avoid harming even the Pro Heroes and police who responded. Shouto didn't dismiss the possibility of it all being a façade to cover up a twisted and vile personality, but if so, it was a good one.

For all his intense popularity here, Shouto only vaguely recalled Gentle Criminal from his own world, and only because his classmates had watched a couple videos in the common room for kicks. He had a rather grandiose personality from what Shouto saw, overly verbose and obviously quite prideful. Shouto hadn't paid much attention at the time, more focused on his own homework, and he regretted it now since any insight would be useful in picking apart his persona here.

No matter of his true personality, Shouto pinned Gentle's popularity as his primary threat. This world was already tottering on the edge of imbalance; it didn't need a villain being worshipped so openly, no matter how harmless or chivalrous he might be. Maybe that was why he was so popular here compared to his world. This world needed change and reform, and Gentle was the type of existence that could incite such an event.

In any event, Shouto didn't care so much about him as he did Tokoyami. Though their interactions had been somewhat limited at school—neither of them were particularly social—he had the sense the bird-headed boy would be likely to actually believe his story. While he couldn't tell if this world's Tokoyami had undergone any drastic changes that might change that, the possibility alone that he might made the decision easy.

The heist the previous day had been in Odawara, the latest in a string of robberies in that general region. It would be a rather short ride to get there, only an hour by bus. Shouto had already checked the schedule and prices for tickets online, and had managed to scrounge together enough money to pay for one. Shouto now had a destination and a plan. An admittedly reckless plan, since he was seeking out the sidekick of a nationally wanted villain, but he didn't have any better ideas.

Ironically, an independent villain might actually be the safest option right now anyway. Heroes worked in tandem with the government after all, and a boy from an alternate reality would draw all sorts of attention. He'd probably end up being taken into custody while the investigation began, and he had a feeling this world's bureaucracy would be an even worse nightmare than his own world. It'd be better if he could move freely.

Thunder rumbled ominously above him for several long seconds, breaking him from his thoughts and making him tuck his chin into the scarf as he walked a little faster. He doubted lightning would strike him—there were plenty of tall buildings nearby—but he'd still feel more secure once he got to the bus stop. Lightning flashed above him with a sharp crack, the white-hot streak of light splitting across the dark clouds and illuminating the near-empty street.

That was the reason Shouto finally spied them.

Two figures stood near the wall of a building not too far ahead, their distant silhouettes hazy and nearly invisible in the thick rain. In the split-second the lightning illuminated them Shouto could see that one had all but pinned the other to the wall, their posture hunched and menacing while the other shrank down towards the ground. A mugging, he recognized instantly, eyes narrowing.

The streak of lightning faded and darkness fell again, the figures vanishing into the ether once more, but their shapes had been burned into Shouto's mind. He frowned as he came to a momentary stop, rolling over his options in his head. In the end, he didn't have to think too hard, and he resumed walking at a brisker pace.

"Hey," he called as they entered his line of sight, short and sharp. Through the rain he could see the mugger's figure twist slightly to look at him, his features lost in the darkness of the storm.

"Go away!" he snarled. "We're in the middle of something here, mind your own business!" Shouto didn't bother responding or letting him say more than that. He surged forward without warning, ice rippling around his right fist and encasing it in a thick, hard shell. The mugger didn't even try to block him as he swung it upwards in a harsh uppercut to the chin, the sound of ice crunching and bone cracking mixing together just barely audible over the rain.

Just like that the man went down, falling back and hitting the ground unconscious in an almost anticlimactic fashion. Shouto huffed as he pulled back his fist, letting the ice fragments melt. Using his Quirk the way he usually did would be dangerous if someone happened to recognize it, but he could at least do this much. With the threat handled he turned to face the other person, still crouched against the wall with shoulders tense.

Now that he'd gotten closer he could see it was an adult male, wearing a scruffy-looking dark jacket that only further blended with the shadows. Shouto thought he faintly heard a "holy shit" just barely audible over the rain, but decided to ignore it.

"Are you alright?" he asked flatly. The man flinched, tensing as if anticipating a strike. Shouto thought it over and decided he probably looked pretty suspicious, and held up his palms in a non-threatening manner. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I just saved you from a mugger."

"H-how do I know that?" the man demanded shakily. "This could be a trap!" Shouto glimpsed wary orange eyes in the shadows of the hood, glinting in the little light available on the street. They shone with fear and wariness, obviously suspicious of Shouto.

"If I was going to mug anyone, it'd be him," he pointed out dryly, inclining his head towards the unconscious man lying beside them. "He's already unconscious anyways." Actually, the idea was somewhat tempting now that he'd said it loud. He did need money, and he could just drag the would-be mugger to the police station afterwards. Shouto entertained the notion for a few seconds but then quickly dismissed it. The urgency of his situation aside, he was still a hero in training. Stealing from even a would-be thief would be unethical.

Across from him the man remained tense and suspicious, his eyes still searching, but after a few moments Shouto saw him nod slightly. "R-right... Guess you have a point there, huh." He rose slowly, watching Shouto the whole time. The teen remained still and kept his posture relaxed, hands still at his sides. Once the man had straightened he seemed to relax, heaving a large sigh. "Shit, what a day... Uh, thanks, I guess."

"Don't mention it," Shouto responded with a shrug. "Do you have a phone to call the police? They'll want to get him."

"Shit, phone, yeah, let me just..." He began rummaging through his pockets, soon pulling out a smart phone before cursing quietly. "Dammit, I can barely see the screen with this rain. I'll have to go somewhere covered to unlock it and make the call."

"There should be a bus station nearby," Shouto suggested. "Not sure how far it is though, I don't know the area that well."

"Bus station, bus station... Yeah, that's just a block over. That'll work." The man nodded and turned to begin walking at a brisk pace, Shouto trailing behind him silently. The would-be victim remained jumpy and on edge during the walk, shooting suspicious glances back at him but saying nothing. Soon enough a glass bus kiosk came into sight, the walls misty with condensation and carrying an ethereal air under the glow of a nearby streetlamp. No one else was there when they slipped inside, but the man seemed to relax nonetheless.

Shouto sat on the bench with a soft sigh as the other pulled out his phone again, quickly unlocking it to call the police. While he described the mugger and his location Shouto rifled through his own pockets, taking the opportunity to count the money he had on hand. His lips thinned as he reached the last coin; it would be tight, but he could afford the ticket. After he arrived though would be another issue, he wouldn't have enough left over to buy even water from a vending machine.

He sighed, deciding to shelve the thought for later as he loosely listened to the phone call next to him. "...just ran away," the man was saying. "Didn't get a good look at him, just heard a punch and then he was gone. No, no idea if he used a Quirk or not, kinda hard to see. Sorry." Shouto frowned, his eyebrows furrowing as he listened to the man wrap up the call.

"You lied," he commented once he'd hung up. The man jumped, snapping a startled look at him, but soon his shoulders sagged and he exhaled a tired breath. With the streetlamp outside he could now see more of the man's features, looking to be in his mid-twenties with sharp-looking orange eyes and slightly damp strands of black hair trailing in his face.

"Would you rather I tell them you're waiting for a bus so they can bust you for vigilante activity?" he asked dryly, his expression just as tired as his voice sounded. Shouto hummed quietly, assessing the man a moment longer.

"No, I wouldn't," he confirmed flatly, turning his gaze back to his meager savings. He could feel the man watching him as he counted out the coins he'd need for the ticket, but chose to ignore it. For a few seconds the only sound was the heavy rain violently assaulting the glass, each individual drop sounding like it was trying to shatter it through force alone.

"You look like the kind of kid with a story," the man commented. Apparently he'd decided Shouto didn't pose a threat anymore, his voice sounding more relaxed and calm now. "Not every day I see a kid willing to punch out a guy for a stranger." The teen just shrugged, stuffing the few leftover coins in his pocket.

"Should I have just walked away then?"

"Most people would," the man said. "Especially a kid living on the streets. By the way, is the eye patch related to the scar poking out under it?"

The nonchalant question made Shouto stiffen, slowly lifting a wary gaze towards the stranger. His fingers itched to reach towards the eye patch and feel the tips of the red scar just barely peeking out under it, his uncovered eye focusing on the man suspiciously.

"Does it matter?" he asked crisply, his tone sharper than intended.

"Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, you look like a kid with a story. And going by that scar, it definitely isn't a nice one." The man shrugged, a small frown playing across his lips as he glanced out at the rain. It made for a sharp contrast to the fearful and suspicious person who'd been cowering under the shadow of his attempted mugger just minutes earlier. It made Shouto even more wary, his eyes narrowing.

"Do you have a point with this?"

"You're here because you want to catch a bus, right? Any chance you're heading to Odawara?" When Shouto remained silent, the man huffed and rolled his eyes. "I'm asking because that's where I'm heading. Bus should be here in a few minutes, I'll cover your fare. After that you can come to my place and get some food there."

"Why?" Shouto asked, not bothering to hide his suspicion. The man's eyes darted back to him, meeting his gaze from the corner of his vision.

"You just took down a mugger for me," he said flatly. "Not every day I meet someone who's willing to do something like that, especially not a street kid like you. The least I can do to pay you back is cover your fare and get you something to eat. Maybe clean up a bit, too," he added. "No offense, but you look like this is the closest you've had to a shower in weeks."

Shouto's glare faded slightly at that, his mouth thinning as he turned away. He had a feeling he was probably right on that last mark. Still, the man was a stranger and Shouto found himself wary of the invitation, even with his explanation of gratitude. But then his gaze darted to the small collection of coins in his hand, the few coins in his pocket feeling much lighter.

That settled it for him and he sighed in defeat, stuffing the money into his pocket. "Fine." Not like he had any better options. If it turned out to be some sort of trap, Shouto felt fairly certain he could take the guy down anyway.

The man smiled at that, nodding at him. "Glad to hear it. The name's Kuroe, by the way." He didn't provide a surname, Shouto noticed immediately, the blatant omission only heightening his suspicion. He frowned slightly and hesitated to respond, trying to figure out what name he should use when Kuroe spoke up again. "You don't need to give me a name if you're not comfortable with it. I know street kids are pretty suspicious and paranoid, probably for good reason, too."

The remark gave Shouto pause, furrowing his eyebrows. "...Do you know a lot of 'street kids'?" Kuroe snorted quietly, his lips curling into a smirk.

"A few," he replied, a glimmer of amusement in his eye at some sort of secret knowledge. Shouto didn't know what that meant, so he just remained silent until the bus arrived.

"I'm sorry, your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice-messaging..."

Dabi didn't let the message finish before he violently jabbed the "end call" button, his face twisted in anger. "Motherfucker!" he cursed loudly, nearly slamming his phone down on the table to resist the urge to throw it at the wall instead. He couldn't afford to break it, he didn't have the money to buy a new one, but goddamn he really wanted to break something right about now.

Five days.

It had been five days since Shouto had woken him up by blasting him with ice and running off to hell knows where. That had to be one of the worst wakeup calls to date, which was really saying something since "rough mornings" had been the norm even before the whole runaway pseudo-fugitive lifestyle. Getting up was hardly appealing with the knowledge that a flaming asshole was waiting for you to make a single mistake so he could blast you to hell over it.

But getting frozen in a block of ice? Turns out that was way worse.

While his burns had now mostly scarred over, the skin was still thinner there than other parts of his body so it practically felt like the ice had touched his bare muscle. On top of that, he had metal staples bridging the gaps between the scar tissue and regular skin all over his body. Metal and cold did not mix, and it was hell when that metal was directly embedded into your body. The only saving grace was that the ice hadn't covered his face. That... would have been really bad.

As it stood, the suddenness of it had left him too stunned to react right away, and then the sheer pain had incapacitated him another few minutes. It had taken him several more minutes of cursing to finally get angry enough for his Quirk to flare subconsciously and melt the ice. And still, he found himself partially immobilized as he tried to recover from the cold, teeth chattering while his whole body dripped water like he'd been dunked in a pool. Which would have been a much nicer way to wake up.

And five days and one hundred-three calls later, and he still had no idea why the fuck that happened.

"Fucking hell, Shouto," he growled under his breath, scowling at the wall. He knew the brat had his phone, the fact it rang at all instead of going straight to voice mail told him it wasn't off all the time. But the fact he wasn't answering was a bad sign.

It would be so much easier if he could send him a text, but no. Texts left an easily traceable trail, and someone could easily see the message when the preview would pop up on the lock screen. Even leaving a voicemail wasn't an option; if someone heard it and recognized his voice, it would be game over. His only option was to keep calling until the idiot picked up, which at this point didn't seem fucking likely.

He yelled in frustration, swinging a hand at the wall behind him and letting blue flames flare out and scorch the stone. The heat from the fire warmed his palm, his hand drawing away before the flames could lick the skin while his other fist clenched at his side. "Dammit," he hissed, his blue eyes flashing with rage as he scowled and brought a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Waiting was no longer an option. So far he knew no one had recognized the brat or else "Endeavor's missing son" would've been plastered all over the news, but that wasn't good enough for him. Dabi needed to find the brat as soon as possible, partially to kick his butt for being such an idiot, and partially to keep him from getting into more trouble.

The longer the kid was out there, the riskier things got for him. The last thing he needed was to get any sort of attention. Right now, Dabi really wished he'd just torched the fucking brat when he'd had the chance. He hadn't though, he'd decided to be nice and now it'd come back to bite him in the ass.

Cursing loudly, he swiped his phone off the table and stormed out of the room, slamming the door hard enough to rattle it. Fuck this, Dabi was done sitting around this abandoned dump just waiting. If the brat finally decided to return on his own he'd just have to call Dabi himself. Wouldn't that be a nice change of pace?

Either way, he had a brat to find. At the very least, setting some stuff on fire sounded like a really good way to de-stress right about now. He would find Shouto, no matter what he had to do.

Enter: Kuroe. One of my all-time favorite OCs, hope you guys like him! Also, Dabi is mad. If it's not immediately obvious, it's now Saturday in the story.

Heads up: Next chapter is going to be slightly darker than the rest so far. See you next week!