Chapter Text
It felt like an eternity of quite while he was moving from town to town across the hot desert. Shouta loved it. He only noises where the shuffling of his bags and the neighing and huffing of his horse as she trekked across the ground. He got the horse when she was young, and somehow, he had managed to pick the most talkative horse possible. He nearly named the horse, Horse but decided that might complicate calling for her so he went with Biscuit instead. She had a nice cream coat, blonde mane, and a seemingly endless amount of energy.
The energy was always nice on trips like this. Shouta had been working as a vigilante for 8 years since he had started at the age of 18. It was nice to know he helped other by taking down dangerous people, and the money was always nice when you knew what you were doing and Shouta did. He built his whole life around being a vigilante and he considered it rational. No friends, no family, no unnecessary interactions; just Shouta catching the criminal, getting the paycheck, and then repeat.
This trip led him far off to Musutafu, which was a little farther than he would usually travel. But the number of times this criminal had gotten away from the hands of the law and other vigilantes, and the atrocities he would commit in each town were enough to make Shouta’s blood boil. Since no one else was smart enough to figure it out, he would just have to put an end to it himself. The criminal was the boss of an underground drug ring who went by the alias, Overhaul. He went to towns giving the underclass hopes of money through selling addictive drugs that led to a burst of energy and aggression in the user.
By the time Overhaul leaves a town he has left drug addicted criminals to wreck a town, and the people who needed the money from selling drugs broke again from trying to fix the damages the drugs had created. He stopped by in the last town affected to gain some information before heading in, and according to some witnesses there was a little girl spotted with Overhaul. She was said to have needle marks on her little arms, so he can only imagine what they were putting her through.
So far Shouta was making good time to Musutafu. It was a few hours past midday and after giving Biscuit a few well deserved breaks, they should make it by sundown. The perfect time to gather information from any local bars, or other in town hotspots. As much as Shouta hated the loud obnoxious feeling of bars, he knew it was the best place for knowledge on new people showing up. Despite common belief of those who had met him, Shouta did not drink. He would never risk taking in anything that prohibited him from processing in a perfectly rational way.
At the beginning of his vigilante career, he had worked with is best friend and what he had hoped to be a future boyfriend, Oboro. Oboro made what was a tough job feel a lot happier and lighter. Shouta could have spent his life just listening to Oboro talk and laugh. But after watching a building be brought down onto Oboro by a few explosions from some escaped prisoners, he watched all his hopes fall with it. After that Shouta never really found anyone, he got along with so well, not that he would ever really give anyone that chance.
He would continue his cycle of work until the day he died, and that would be completely fine.
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Hizashi Yamada was busy at almost all times of the day. He had a farm just outside Musutafu that provided for nearly the whole town, he tried to make sure that the other farms in town stayed up and running, he helped write articles for the newspaper, he took in animals that were too sick or old for others to care for, and he had two wonderful sons that he had found when they were young. Hizashi was busy, but he could accept that if the people around him were happy. And from what he could tell, they all seemed to be doing pretty good.
At the moment he was trying to help a kitten with three legs that his sons Hitoshi and Izuku had brought to him. Poor Izuku was in tears over the tiny, malnourished creature, but Izuku cried over seemingly every new animal they took in. Izuku held the kitten while Hizashi slowly helped it drink some milk formula, and Hitoshi set up a little bed area.
“Hey Papa, do you think this one will make it?” Hitoshi asked, walking towards Izuku and Hizashi.
“I think so, we just need to bathe it and it should be a whole lot better.” Hizashi sighed, as he pulled the pipette, he was feeding the kitten with back. The kitten was looking more awake now, pawing at Izuku’s fingers.
Looking up from playing with the kitten Izuku asked softly, “Are we gonna’ keep him?”
Hizashi was going to keep it anyways, but either of the kids asking just affirmed his decisions. He smiled at the boys as they coddled the creature. “Can you handle it with the other dozens of animals we keep? Cus’ I’m not sure you guys can take the pressure, ya know?”
Hitoshi obviously bought none of it.
“So, we are keeping it?” Hitoshi deadpanned.
“I suppose we can keep the lil’ guy. Just give him a bath and help him get acquainted with his new family.”
“I can do that stuff!”, Izuku said beaming at them. The little kitten had a black coat of fur, and yellow eyes. It had hardly made any noise since the boys had picked him up. Even as Izuku carried it to the bath it was silently snuggled into his warm hands. But Hizashi curbed his worry over it by how much more the kitten was willing to move now.
Hizashi decided to trust the boys in taking care of the little creature and move on to some writing for a new story in the newspaper. The recent retirement of Yagi Toshinori as the mayor, and the move of Enji Todoroki into that spot had the town in near shambles. It wasn’t as though Enji hadn’t made some good calls in the past, he did a lot and showed to be dedicated to his job. But that said nothing for his child abuse allegations and his clear ignorance on issues of the lower class in the town. Compared to Yagi he was an angry, bitter man that few longed to see in office. If Hizashi was honest about it, he wasn’t too delighted about it himself. He had done a few interviews with Todoroki for the paper and Hizashi never felt great vibes when he was around the guy. A man who came off so angry and distant could strike no connection with the people around him. All he could really do is report on what happens, and then sit and wait to see what happens next.