Rules of the street

Chapter 7 - When in doubt, get out.

Rule 7: When in doubt, get out.

I watched him take it, and he came towards me with a broad smile on his face. I looked to the cobbles and managed to bump into him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, here let me help you up." He tensed as I grabbed his wrist to pull him up, but relaxed when I quickly let go. He passed me, still smiling, blissfully unaware that the pouch had fallen off his belt and into my hands the second we made contact.

I caught up to the others who were waiting.

"What was that about?" Their absence of rage told me everything.

They had no idea they'd just been robbed.

They had no idea they were the most obvious marks in a square mile.

They had absolutely no clue what they were doing.

"I just bumped into a small boy, no big deal." If they were going to learn how to survive on the street, they had to learn the hard way.

I continued to let them lead me, becoming increasingly worried as we neared the edge of the market. It wasn't long before I realised who they were headed to, and I nearly had a heart attack.

They were buying from the sleaze stall.

I pulled them aside before they could make it.

"What?"

"You are so hopeless." They shared a stunned look before Katsuki spoke up.

"What do you fucking mean?" I sighed and pointed to the stall.

"The shop keeps who work at that stall scout for pleasure houses. You said your men are going missing? If they were buying from there, chances are they're quite busy in a warehouse miles from here."

"Holy fuck-"

"And that's not all. You got robbed back there."

The blonde wildly reached for the non-existent pouch.

"How-"

I lifted the bag, the coins clinking.

"Lucky for you, I stole it back. You guys are like the easiest marks ever. Rule two."

Shoto broke the stunned silence.

"How do you know these things? And what is rule two?"

"I know these things because it was my job to. The only reason I was at the parade was to prove I was worthy of a higher position. As for the rules, have you never heard of the rules of the street?"

He blinked.

"No? Are we supposed to?" Sighing mentally, I realised they were farther behind than I thought.

I was about to answer them when something caught my eye.

Or, rather, someone.

Toga was skipping through the crowd, eyeing up the stalls that sold livestock. And where Toga went, Dabi was never far behind.

This couldn't be happening.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

They were here.

There were here.

The air slipped from my lungs as I shrank into the shadows. The hood of my cloak wasn't deep enough, they could see right under it, they could see me-

They gently took my hands, one each, and immediately I started calming down. After I stopped shaking, one of them asked;

"What was that about?" I couldn't tell them. Not really.