Deer

Chapter 3

The first time Tsukauchi Naomasa met Midoriya Izuku, the boy was in a store buying a pack of bubble gum. The clock showed that it was close to midnight.

Tsukauchi was in the middle of decoding a report compiled by pro and underground heroes alike regarding the Yakuza groups that still existed. Specifically, the Shie Hassakai. They had threatened Japan long before heroes emerged and would probably continue to for many years in the future. It was harrowing work, sifting through the endless piles of reports and photos. His subordinates could understand when he stepped out of the office to take a breather.

So, there Tsukauchi was, in a twenty-four-hour store, browsing the instant coffee aisle. The shop owner was an old woman with a bad back, close to seventy, but still young at heart. Typically, her grandson, who had a gravity quirk, would accompany her, using his power to organize the shelves with efficiency. However, something held him up that night, and the old woman's phone chirped with a text saying he would be late for his shift.

At that moment, only three people stood in line at the register, including Tsukauchi. The other two were a jittery man in a black hoodie and a kid with messy green hair tied into a short ponytail. Freckles peppered the boy's pale cheeks, and his eyes displayed his apparent boredness. He was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Deer smack dab in the middle. Tsukauchi didn't think too much about his fellow customers, though he did do a double-take at seeing a child out this late at night, though perhaps the man in the hoodie was his father. He made polite conversation with the old woman to break the overarching silence. After paying for his coffee, he stepped out of the line to depart.

Then he felt the temperature drop.

Tsukauchi remembered shuddering and wrapping his coat tighter around his figure at that time.

'Did the air conditioner break? Or was it the wind blowing in from a hidden crack in the wall?' He shook his head and stepped out of the market, mind already back on the work still waiting to be finished.

Had Tsukauchi been less tired and a little more aware, he might have seen the man in the black hoodie cowered in fright, feeling towered over by a child that didn't even reach his shoulders. Somehow, the boy appeared much taller because of his menacing aura. If looks could kill, the man, a would-be robber, proven by the half-hidden gun he tried to pull out from his jacket pocket, would be dead ten times over. The old woman waved in cheerful ignorance when the man took off, not buying anything, and calling out a hysterical apology.

As the door shut behind him, the temperature warmed back up, and Izuku quietly placed his bubble gum on the counter.

The second time they crossed paths, it was far more memorable for Naomasa. Izuku was in the middle of calming a civilian down from a mental breakdown.

His shift finally over, Tsukauchi pulled the tie loose as he trekked home to his cozy apartment. Another dead end in the search for Shie Hassakai. If not for Sir Nighteye's assurance that they were still active, he might've believed that the group had finally bitten the dust. Tsukauchi let out a tired sigh and trudged on with heavy footsteps, longing for another cup of coffee the moment he arrived home.

Before he heard a choked sob coming from the alleyway ahead and he stopped, instincts blaring like a siren.

As he fingered the gun on his left holster, Naomasa peered around the corner, assessing the situation. He spotted a middle-aged woman, whose hair was falling from its carefully tied bun, crying in the embrace of a green-haired child, who seemed familiar. Seeing nothing worth alarm, Naomasa was ready to let himself be known. But the kid beat him to it with a sharp glance in his direction. It was almost like the greenette had sensed his presence without looking. The boy whispered softly to the woman and helped her stand up, taking a careful step towards the waiting officer.