Nonchalant

Chapter 23

A while had passed. Izuku's ankle was feeling better. He could move again. He could scavenge for food and jump across buildings aimlessly again.

Yay.

Izuku had decided that sleeping off his hunger was the next best thing he could do than actually eating food. Painful, sure, but bearable.

He was surprised by the joy and adrenaline he found running across high buildings, wondering if just a minor slip-up would lead him to his death. It was fun. It burned his energy, but it was fun.

Izuku checked his storage. He was running low on food again. The only thing he had plenty of was water and silence. It wouldn't keep him alive.

Izuku dropped down the hole in the floors and landed into a crouch, casually walking his way to the door. He could always go for a nice walk and try to find morsels of food. Izuku took along a plastic bottle he'd washed and filled with drinking water. He grabbed a face mask and went on his way, breathing into his gloves to try and warm his hands.

The cold evening wind wreaked havoc on his hair. Izuku made no attempt to brush it down. He walked aimlessly in the streets, into the alleys, and across abandoned parking lots. He gave a stray cat some pets along the way. It didn't claw him, to his surprise.

A stone flew out of an alley and landed at Izuku's feet. Then another. Izuku peered into the dark and spotted two figures. One was cowering while the other was holding a shiny object. Izuku realized that the shiny object was a very shiny knife. 

The crouching form was throwing rocks in an attempt to drive the attacker away. Izuku could hear parts of their conversation as he ducked behind the wall.

"I told you. Your money is due, bitch. Hand it over or your kids become orphans!" 

"B-But it's not my deadline yet! I swear, I just need until next week!"

Damn it.

Izuku grasped his plastic bottle in hand as he crept out quietly from his hiding place. Raising the bottle, he slammed it onto the man's neck, grabbing the knife from his hand. It was a little hard to do while wearing gloves. The woman stared up at the scene, wide-eyed as her attacker faced off a what seemed to be a child.

"What the fuck!" Izuku ignored the curses and swept the guy off his feet with a quick knock to his knees. The man went down like a bowling pin, Izuku noted with mild amusement. 

"The hell? You're just some puny kid. I'm gonna kill you!"

Izuku didn't reply. The man threw a fist at him and he dodged, kicking him on the chest. A few more futile efforts later, the man was knocked out on the ground, arms and legs tied with the fabric of the thug's shirt. Izuku kneeled and inspected the woman for wounds. She was fine, save for a few bruises. He checked his own arm and spotted a fairly ugly lump, just turning into a dark purple.

Izuku grabbed a stick and wrote on the ground, then tapped his foot on the ground to get the woman's attention.

'Are you okay? Do you need anything?'

The woman gaped at him in shock before seemingly snapping out of it and nodding, getting up and bowing profusely to him. Izuku dragged his stick on the ground again.

'Call the police. I'll take this guy to them.'

The woman scanned the writing before fumbling for her phone.

Grabbing hold of the man's collar, he dragged him across the streets to the nearest police station. It wasn't too far, just a ten-minute speed-walk distance. The man groaned and babbled nonsense in his sleep, talking about his due money and something about fried chicken. 

Izuku turned the corner and was greeted by a large window.

Oh, fuck.

Eraser Head was there. And he was looking straight at him.

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Aizawa was not liking all this paperwork he was having to do. Miss Kawabe's case was an intricate one, so it meant lots of investigation. Furthermore, Tsukauchi had said she was lying about being alone, but they couldn't and wouldn't pressure her into talking.

He glanced outside, Geez, when had it gotten dark?

Aizawa spotted a hooded, masked figure dragging a tied up man by his shirt, and immediately leapt up and speed-walked to the door. He saw the person grab a stick and write on the ground before releasing the man and darting off.

'Sorry, Eraser Head. This man was assaulting someone and I thought you could take care of him. I'll drop by with details later. Thank you.'

Aizawa had to hand it to him. That person could write really fast.

No, not a person. A kid. 

Aizawa breathed a puff of pure exhaustion into the cold midnight air. He was getting so much more paperwork, wasn't he. 

He might be wrong, but the pro was sure he made out a pair of piercing green eyes that he was certain he saw before.

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Izuku allowed himself to slow down just to gulp in some air. He couldn't say that his speed was based solely on evading capture. 

He just didn't Eraser Head to know it was him. That he was still alive and that he might be placed under the care of his mom again. Despite being cold and hungry, he loved the solitude he gained after he managed to escape from the facility. The adrenaline from his habitual runs and the urge to apologize to Sumiko for everything was great motivation, and he wasn't going to get caught by the police and risk all that.

Wait, his speed was based solely on evading capture. Damn it, he was contradicting himself.

Today was nice, helping out that woman from possibly dying. 

Oh, that reminded him. He still needed to write down the details of the assault, like he promised. Izuku wondered if he could keep the knife, but decided against it. Maybe he could get one at the beach/junkyard behind him.

Izuku tore out a few sheets of notebook paper and grabbed his pencil.

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Aizawa was greeted by two sheets of paper filled with writing. He had to admit, the penmanship was no joke. The handwriting was better than those of his students. Attached to the notes was a knife, and Aizawa read that it was used by the assaulter. Aizawa wondered of he could get the fingerprints on it and match it with someone.

He didn't. There were no other prints except those of the attacker, according to the forensics team. Damn, this kid was good.

Writer's block is a bitch T^T

Love you guys 0v0