Chapter Text
Four Years Ago
“Please, please, anything…”
A scrawny evergreen-colored girl dug through the dumpster behind the thrift shop. She winced as her shoulder fought to rest, a sickening black and red splotch of skin reminding her of why she was here.
“Kacchan went too far today… usually I can cover up the burns or stitch the holes together but he had to go and burn through the whole shoulder of my uniform…”
Kyu did her best to ignore the decimated flesh of her shoulder as she dug through the reject pile. She’d run out of funds for burn cream as soon as Inko went missing, so the injuries just piled on and on, like a garbage dump constantly having trash thrown atop it.
“Though that’s a pretty apt way of describing my life...”
She muttered to herself. It was difficult to find a black piece of clothing that’d match Izumi’s uniform close enough in the dark of night, but she’d get shooed away if it were daytime.
“Doesn’t help that I'm colorblind…”
Kyu muttered to herself angrily before shaking her head.
“Focus on the task at hand Kyu. Gotta do it for Izumi. Gotta do it for lil sis.”
Kyu did her best to shield Izumi from the trauma they faced. Unfortunately, when you’re beaten to unconsciousness, it’s uncertain which headmate will wake up first. Kyu tries to keep Izumi from seeing everything, but things slip through. She doesn’t want her to break. She wants her to be safe. Izumi still had a hint of hope. Kyu felt her hope die when she was four years old.
After a near hour of digging, Kyu found some usable clothes and fabrics. She stashed the remnants of the black coat she found in her backpack to patch Izumi’s uniform later. She held up the dingy-burgundy leather jacket to herself. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, too big for her, and well worn. But it was a warm jacket, and winter was coming up soon. She slipped it on over herself, wincing as it drug over her injured shoulder.
“Well, it’s red, at least if I bleed on it it won’t be as noticeable.”
Kyu smiled sadly before starting walking her ways out of the alley.
“No good blankets or pillows again. Hopefully we can find some before the cold comes in. Heaven knows that even if we could get the pickup to run, it would not have functional heating.”
Ever since her and Izumi’s incident with Death Arms when they first became homeless, they had moved into an abandoned pickup truck that was dumped at the garbage beach. Kyu was glad Izumi never bought any Death Arms merchandise… hopefully he’d eventually get exposed for what he did. Hopefully he hadn’t done it to anyone else. Though if it was just her, the police wouldn’t do anything. She’s a quirkless deku after all, and everyone knows the statistics. They were victims of crime disproportionately. All types of crime. Kyu was happy she was able to keep THAT memory away from Izumi. She didn’t deserve to go through it.
A tiny voice in the back of her head said she didn’t deserve it either. Kyu paid it no mind. She just wanted Izumi safe. Herself was an afterthought.
She was brought out of her thoughts by a small mew from beside her. A small orange cat was pawing at the dumpster. Kyu frowned and leaned down to pet it.
“Sorry kitten. There’s no food there…”
Kyu wishes there was. This area had started locking their trash up not long after she ventured into it. She could pick locks well enough, but most of the fast food joints had people working overnights, so she was simply taunted by the smell.
A clatter from the front of the alley had her jump, she dove into the thrift store dumpster to hide from whatever it could be.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck- I went in too far. Please not Death Arms, please not again. I don’t have the stomach for it again. I don’t even have anything to throw up…”
She peaked out from a bullethole in the side of the bin to see what happened. She held in a sigh of relief at an ordinary man being there. He was scruffy, and looked like he needed to get home and rest. The man knelt down in front of the kitten.
“Just you today Scrappy? Well, I’ll leave both of these here for you in case your friends come back…”
The man took two cans of catfood out from the pouches in his belt, leaving them on the ground before petting the cat’s head and walking away from the alley. Kyu waited for the man’s footsteps to become mere background noise before she climbed out of the dumpster.
Her stomach howled at her. It’d been at least three days since she’d had anything to eat. She winced and felt tears form in the corner of her eyes. She eyed the untouched can of catfood.
“It’s technically safe for people to eat… goddammit.”
Kyu picked up the can and started her way back home to the dump.
“Food is food. Anything to keep Izumi from starving.”
Kyu closed the lid and went to put the can in her jacket pocket, but there was something inside. She pulled it out with her unoccupied hand, finding a purple Gameboy Advance inside, with a copy of Pokemon Crystal. Kyu smiled fondly. Inko had gotten her the same game years ago, when Izumi was young and was just experimenting with her gender for the first time. Inko supported her, and got her a game that let her be a girl. It was old, given their limited budget, but she knew how hard Inko must’ve worked to get it. It pained Kyu to let Izumi believe Inko had just left, and that she hadn’t died, but she knew learning would break her. Still, she attempted to turn the game on, and smiled when the system came to life. It was like she had a little bit of home again.
She walked back to her truck, ate her excuse for a dinner, stitched up Izumi’s uniform and powered the system on. She deserved a little reward.
Today was the best day she’d had in years.
…
Eraserhead stumbled into the Police Department slightly later than usual, taking the time to feed his strays on the way back. It was the least he could do. Tsukauchi was in a meeting for the next few minutes so he poured himself a cup of coffee and waited to discuss whatever the Chief wanted him to work on. Not much later, a very tired man walked into the room. Shouta knew he shouldn’t judge with how little sleep he himself got, but the poor bastard must’ve been going grey in his 30s with how he worked himself.
“What do you want me working on?”
Naomasa laughed.
“Well good evening to you too Shouta.”
Shouta smiled slightly.
“Yeah yeah, good evening. I’d like to go home. What do you need?”
Naomasa shook his head.
“Not me this time. Got a request from another local department to keep eyes peeled for people sneaking around the alleys where you patrol. Apparently they’ve had an influx of people dumpster diving and they’re concerned.”
Aizawa sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Not a crime, and if they’re dumpster diving where I work, they need it. It’s just discount stores and food. If they’re that concerned they should lock the bins up.”
Tsukauchi nodded.
“I agree, it really shouldn’t be a concern, and I’d usually ignore it, but they say they’d seen glimpses of a kid doing it. I’m not concerned about any dumpster diving, I’m just concerned if there's a kid out there when we’re gonna get a cold front soon.”
Aizawa nodded.
“I’ll check in with that soon. I didn’t see anyone when I was doing my rounds today, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled. It’s hell to see anyone on the streets, let alone a kid.”
Tsukauchi nodded at the man but smirked lightly.
“Heh. Teachin’ really has made you soft for kids huh Eraser?”
Eraserhead glared at him with no real malice.
“Shut up. Goodnight Naomasa.”
“‘Night Shouta.”