[DISCONTINUED] reaper | todoroki shouto

4 | HIM

The sleepless city roared as their devoted leader stood on the podium, fists of faith thrown into the air as the mayor simpered widely at the crowd, hailing a simple gesture to settle his supporters before giving out a speech.

Shouto, on the other hand, was far left behind him on the stage—acting as the main guard along with another hero on the right with others scattered around the perimeter of the campaign conducted on the closed road. Although he was used to overcoming the lethargic wave that was starting to tempt him to yawn just a little, he admits that until now, he was still trying to get used to working late hours like this. Not that he minds, being a pro at this age was honourable but perhaps, some things never change.

His contrasting gaze scanned the notable night—sidelines, civilians, shops and buildings and any part of the perimeter surrounding the campaign as the mayor's speech muffled into mumbles tuned out from the hero's focus.

"See anything?" Shouto heard from his intercom as his eyes still searched for anything suspicious.

"Nothing."

"Keep looking. You never know what might happen in an event like this," Tsukauchi said, and it seemed like the detective jinxed it.

Because all of the lights abruptly turned off.

That was when Shouto had his senses sharpened, signalling at his colleague from his right as he nodded. Civilians from the crowd started to whisper their confusion. It was all dark to see, too dark that Shouto had to squint his eyes to adjust his surroundings and yet, it was complicated. Some civilians started taking out their phones to turn on their flashlights right at the stage, and that was when chaos waltz in.

The mayor was nowhere to be found.

"Tsukauchi! The mayor's gone!" Shouto shouted into his intercom in which caused the crowd to stir at his outburst.

"What? How? What happened?"

"The lights suddenly turned off. Including the whole street and buildings. The mayor must've been taken. I'm going to have to shoot my flames up to catch him. He might not be far yet," he jumped off the stage, startling a few civilians as he squeezed through the center of the crowd.

"Alright. Do what you can. I'm sending reinforcements immediately. Update me if he's found."

"Roger that," he glanced around the dark only to hear mumblings of the crowd. "Everyone, stay back!"

With his left hand raised into the air, a burst of flames shot into the dark sky, illuminating the area long enough for him to dart around for a runaway. Just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a hooded figure leaping towards the main building with a bulky body on its shoulder that indisputably indicated that it was an unconscious person. The mayor.

Shouto automatically made a path of ice to the rooftop causing the crowd to disperse in frenzy at the change of events. He left it to the other heroes to evacuate the perimeter while reinforcements were on the way, leaving himself to chase the culprit in sight.

Once he finds himself running on skyscrapers, he was already catching up to the hooded figure a few meters in front of him.

Without warning, Shouto shot shards of ice at the figure, but careful enough not to hit the mayor. The figure managed to dodge in time, vaguely glancing in his way when the pro hero noticed that the person was wearing a scarf.

Perhaps the distraction he was lured in succeeded because, in return, the figure sent daggers flying right past his cheeks, barely grazing his skin. The culprit he was chasing was fast but either way, Shouto couldn't tell if that was just a fluke. He watched as the figure jumped rooftops after another as he followed, trying to catch up. Ice after daggers, daggers after ice, and this goose chase were starting to annoy the hero. He endured enough.

With an air of finality, Shouto emitted an ice slide just as the figure was about to land on another rooftop, causing him to slip and fall, dropping the mayor's unconscious body.

Whatever happened next, Shouto didn't know whether he should interpret it as an accident or a way to apprehend the culprit—because the hooded figure landed his back on a shard of ice, causing him—perhaps her—to let out a strangled grunt, and Shouto could picture her gritting her teeth in pain veiled behind the black scarf.

Despite this, Shouto lifted his hand to apprehend her hands together with ice, but before he could do that, she sent a kick up his chin before another harsh grunt left her lips, lifting herself up from the ice debris. Shouto stumbled back a little from the impact, and he didn't even have time to comprehend what just happened before another solid kick was sent to his jaw—a sharp sting burdened with his nerves.

Just as he was about to raise his left hand, a cloud of fog suddenly appeared before him. Instinctively, he flailed at the fog in an attempt to disperse the misty white hindering his vision, and what was left at the scene was the mayor, shards of ice, blood trails and a necklace lying near the small pool of blood where the hooded figure got impaled back there.

Taking in the situation, he took a slow deep breath as he closed his eyes before he strode and crouched down to inspect the mayor who was still unconscious despite the dispute between him and the abductor. Speaking of which, it never occurred to Shouto on whoever was the culprit. In fact, he least expected someone feminine to run and jump over rooftops while carrying the big-build mayor. Perhaps she had some kind of a quirk to help her with that kind of strength, but it was too soon to assume when he had no clue about the unknown culprit.

His gaze trailed over the pool of blood near the shards before they flickered over small drops of crimson dotted across the roof floor until he saw a red printed hand on the ledge, indicating that she escaped. But maybe that might be another job for Shouto to catch on. It was pretty easy.

His gaze then flickered back to the spot near the pool of blood to see the same necklace lying around in which he made his way to it and picked it up as he let the pendant lay in the palm of his right hand. He noticed there was a small opening in between, presuming that it popped open when it landed on the floor.

And with a simple movement, Shouto lightly opened the pendant with his thumb, revealing a portrait of a family of four.

It didn't take long for him to know who was the very same person that fought him a few minutes ago—a brunette his age smiling so genuinely at him that made him like a fool.

This woman, was no doubt, a vigilante.

__________