Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 7: Weapons!

Izuku had never actually been to a hardware store before. It probably had something to do with growing up without a father, but Mom had always just hired a handyman for anything that needs to be fixed around the house and that guy always brought his own materials, so Izuku had never really had any reason to walk inside a store like this before, which was why he was currently standing frozen at the entrance, unsure of where to begin.

Some of the employees were starting to stare at him strangely, probably wondering why a kid in a middle school uniform was staring at their store like it was some kind of labyrinth that was going to eat him alive, so Izuku forced his feet to move and started aimlessly wandering while trying to look discreetly at the signs. It wasn't his fault the store was so big and intimidating!

Alright, he'd had a goal when he'd walked in here, hadn't he? Oh, right, pipe. After the fight with those drugged-up villains last week, he'd decided that he needed to...fine-tune his weapon selection. The dowels had worked great for the first few seconds, but they broke far too easily and just because Mom hadn't realized they were missing from the closet yet didn't mean he could just keep taking them until they were gone. What if Mom wanted to use them for another project!?

So, anyway, pipe hopefully wouldn't break as easily and it shouldn't be that hard to buy, right? But what section was he supposed to...plumbing sounded promising. Plumbing used pipes, didn't it? Izuku fought to not facepalm at his own stupidity since he didn't need to give the staff any more reasons to question his sanity. Of course, plumbing used pipes, he really was as stupid as Kacchan said, wasn't he?

He turned down the aisle and started looking around while desperately trying to pretend he knew what he was doing. Why were there so many pipes? And why were they all so long? He wasn't looking for a quarterstaff, he wanted something he could fit in his pocket! Finally, he found some copper pipe that looked short enough to be promising. He picked up a piece and started passing it between his hands. It was light, but felt comfortable enough...

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Izuku yelped and dropped the pipe, which made a series of loud clanging sounds as it bounced on the floor. Izuku felt his face heat up and turned to the employee who was looking at him apologetically. The kid was around his own age and had yellow hair that was almost as bright as the red apron of his store uniform.

"Sorry about that, dude." The employee said. "We're just supposed to offer help and expertise to the people who come in. Not that I actually have much expertise, I'm just a part-timer, but I could help you find someone who's an expert if you want."

"Um..." Izuku didn't think that any of the employees were experts in vigilantism, "No thanks, I'm j-just browsing."

"If you tell me what your project is, I could probably point you in the right direction." The kid offered.

"It's, um, it's just a hobby..." Izuku glanced down at the copper pipe, which was still sitting forgotten on the floor. It seemed too conspicuous like it was a physical reminder of how useless he was. He not only didn't know what kind of pipe to buy but he'd also managed to loudly drop one within minutes of arriving at the store. He really was such an idiot, wasn't he?

The employee followed his gaze downward and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, dude, normally I'd grab that and put it back for you, but," he chuckled awkwardly, "I'm not really supposed to handle any conductive materials."

For the first time, Izuku noticed the black lightning bolt pattern in the employee's hair, "Oh! You have an electricity quirk!"

"Yeah!" The employee smiled brightly. "My name's Kaminari, by the way."