Puppet Master

Don't Trust Anyone

Izuku stretched as he woke up. It was a week since his first real outing. Izuku trained much harder every day now. He knew how lucky he was to be alive right now and despite how little he cared for his own life, Izuku did very much not enjoy the feeling of dying slowly. If he were to die, he thinks he would want it to be speedy or to die in his sleep or something. Come to think of it, that was probably why he didn't just kill himself when he lived back at the apartment. He was too scared of the pain of dying. Izuku would be prepared next time.

And next time he surely was! Over the course of the next year, Izuku had taken in twenty-three criminals and had a plethora of scars to add to the ones before his street life. The only visible one, though, above his costume was the scar he got on his left cheek from his first excursion. All of the others were under his costume. Today, though, he would be doing something a little different. He had been stealing money off of the criminals and overtime had saved up enough to purchase a simple laptop. Sure, some would chastise him and tell him to spend that money on food or better equipment, which he did in the form of a fast-food meal twice a month. But Izuku had made a name for himself in the underground hero world. That is, all of the heroes were trying to catch him but they couldn't.
And with that, Izuku decided to be a little bold.

Izuku got into costume and climbed onto the top of the building that made the wall of his fire escape with his laptop. It was midday so this was risky but he set up a timer and stood a few feet back. Izuku grinned and right before the camera flashed, he swung his whip forward. The picture came out as him with the hip flying into the camera. It just barely missed the laptop. Izuku was quick to scramble back down the fire escape and change into his normal clothes. He took a second to survey his torn and ragged clothes. Not once since he had run away had Izuku gotten any new clothes aside form his costume. Izuku shrugged. Vigilant or not, he was still homeless.

Izuku ducked out of his alley. His blood pressure rose tenfold. It didn't matter how brave he was when vigilanting, Izuku was still 1oo% terrified of humans. Every single day he lived in fear that the dull throb of someone tugging on his quirk. He was scared that someone would reach out and the string would form. His freedom could be stripped away faster than lighting if someone was to only have the right mindset for it. Izuku's eyes flew to and fro as he set a brisk pace to his destination: Soft Blossom Bakery. Yes, it was still very much the red light district but it had normal-ish establishments. Soft Blossom Bakery had opened a couple of years before he arrived on the block and it was a quaint little shop that Izuku, despite his blatant fear of any living, quite enjoyed. Even if he almost never ate there, Izuku would spend a few hours there every so often to do research on the latest news and to keep up with his studies via WeTube.

He waited for a break in traffic before bolting across the street.
Was Izuku j-walking?
Yes.
Did he care?
Not one bit.

Izuku ducked into the bakery. "Ah! Hey, boy!" Izuku jumped. Sure, he was used to it by now, but his anxiety very much did not enjoy the greeting he always got from the woman behind the counter. Izuku glanced at her. He took in her pose, her body language, the ways her eyes moved. He took in the other customers. How would he get out should someone find him or recognize him? How fast could he draw his knife out? He needed a new one soon, though. His was pretty dull. Could he really effectively use it should the situation that he should need it arise?

Deciding that it was 'safe', for now, he made his way over to the table seat in the corner and set his laptop on the table.

_______________________________

Mary Lou looked up from her position at the counter. She was the owner and head Pastry Chef at Soft Blossom Bakery. Her parents had both advised against setting up shop in the red light district but Mary Lou had thought that the red light district needed a bit of a spirit and light in it. Still, it was hard making a living in this kind of atmosphere. People in the red light district didn't do "nice."
After four years of struggling to keep her business alive, Mary Lou was just about to give up when that kid first made his appearance. She smiled as he came back again today.