Too Late

Nine (Midoriya P.O.V)

Midoriya stepped outside the base, slipping the surgical mask over his mouth and nose with a slight sigh. He glanced around, not bothering to put on a pair of sunglasses as he began making his way through town. He pushed past a couple of students that had been standing in the middle of the path, thinking about what happened with Bakugo. He said that he didn't stop looking, so did that mean Bakugo was worried about him? Did Bakugo want him to come home? He grit his teeth as he thought about this. There's no way the angry male wanted him to come home for any other reason to bully him, so why was feeling happy about the idea of Bakugo looking for him? He let out another sigh, bringing his hand to his chest. He could feel his heart beating in his throat, and the feeling made him want to throw up. Shaking his head, he stepped into a random store. His eyes widened slightly as he glanced around. Weapons, mostly knives.

"Hello! Hello!" Some guy came out from the back room, a lopsided grin on his face. He was short, and kinda of chubby. When he smiled, his eyes squinted while his nose scrunched up. "Welcome to my.. little shop" His teeth, the few that he had, were yellowed. He brought his chubby hands up to his collar and adjusted it while he spoke again. "Are you in need of some defense?" He asked with a sickening voice. Midoriya knew he should turn around and leave, but he just couldn't get himself to do it.

"No, I'm just.. trying to get out of the crowd." He said as he glanced to the door behind him "Sorry, I can leave." He turned back to the man, taking a small step away. The man was now right in front of him.

"Now now.." the man grinned again. He was barely taller than Midoriya, and he leaned a bit to where he was the same height. He could smell the man's breath, both the smell and the heat of it made Midoriya bring a hand to cover his nose. He didn't realize that he had torn the mask off when he came into the store, but he could feel it clutched in the hand by his side. "Don't be like that. I'm only trying to offer some help. It's tough to be quirkless, isn't it?" Midoriya's eyes widened slightly and he moved to take a step away again, but the man grabbed his wrist with his sweaty palm. He pulled Midoriya's hand away from his nose.

"How did you..?" Midoriya began to ask, flinching slightly when the man pulled him closer to him. He stumbled into the male's body, and he stunk much more than his breath.

"I can sense how powerful somebody's quirk is, that's my quirk. You obviously have no power." He forced Midoriya's head up, holding his wrist in one hand, and his face in the other. "And it's really easy to overpower someone when they have no quirk. I could do whatever I wanted to you, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it" Midoriya's eyes widened, he tried to pull himself away from the male but he just let go as soon as Midoriya put up a fight. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm not gonna do anything to ya" The grin on his face made Midoriya feel uneasy, this man was lying to him that he wasn't going to do anything, but Midoriya knew what he had to do to get out of here.

"I'll take a look at your knives.." Midoriya said carefully. He could hear the fear in his own voice, but he didn't allow it to show on his face. The man's grin widened and he walked back behind the counter, pulling out a box.

"I have exactly what you need" The man opened the box, pulling out three different knives as he gestured for Midoriya to come over. He stepped towards the counter as he looked at the knives. He couldn't help it as he reached up, touching the handle of one of the knives. The handle was black and was covered in little carved symbols. At the end of the handle was a silver point. It was sharp, and was probably supposed to be used to stab like the blade itself.

"I'll take this one" He nearly whispered, running his fingers up the handle and to the blade. It was short, but it was enough. He glanced up and saw the man grinning. That grin made him realize where he was, causing him to pull money from his pocket. He slammed the money onto the counter and took a step back.

"Alright. I'll give you a hand to put the strap on" He held up a holster for the knife.

"What?" Midoriya glanced to the holster. It was black, like his clothing. He flinched when the man walked over to him. "What are you doing?"

"Putting this on for you" He grinned and got down on his knees. The feeling of the man's hand on his leg made Midoriya nearly fall back, but he was steadied by the man reaching around and touching his back. "Sit still" he hissed slightly, causing him to tense up. The man touched his thigh as he clipped the button of the holster shut. He reached up and grabbed the knife, slipping it into the holster "There you go" the stood up, grinning a sick grin at Midoriya.

"Thank you" Midoriya turned and quickly left the store, his breathing heavy. He didn't like that man, and he definitely wasn't going to go back into that store. He was about to glance back at the store when his arm was grabbed. His eyes widened when he was pulled into an alley and slammed into the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Midoriya heard a familiar voice, and he glanced up to see a red faced Bakugo. The angry boy was holding onto him, but he couldn't seem to look at him.