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Fuyumi walked down the sidewalk with Natsuo behind her, Shoto holding one of her hands, and an errand list in the other. Their father wasn't home, so she had to take her brothers while doing some errands. They both behaved with Shoto constantly looking around in awe. She was happy to spend time with him, and he hadn't left the house for a while. This would be good for him.
She entered the next store, grabbed a cart, and crossed out items on her list. She grabbed ingredients, snacks, drinks, and more, with Natsuo helping her. At one point, Natsuo came back, holding some ice cream. "Fuyumi, can we please get ice cream?" he asked, making puppy dog eyes.
"Hmm… Sure!" She grabbed the ice cream and put it in the cart with the other food.
"Thanks, Yumi!" he smiled widely at her.
Fuyumi smiled back at him but suddenly felt something tugging at her shirt. Shoto looked up at her, holding a snack. "Can I please get this, too?" he asked softly.
"Shoto, of course, you can." She smiled at him and took the item from his hand to place in the cart.
"Thank you, Yumi!" Shoto hugged her and smiled widely.
She smiled widely back at him, too, and made sure to write down the stuff Natsuo and Shoto had picked out so she could get it for them more often.
Fuyumi started to get distracted and let go of Shoto's hand for one moment, then went to grab some more items. Shoto had gotten distracted and wandered away. He saw some free sample areas and went to grab some. He grabbed extras for the ones he liked for his siblings to try. He started walking back to Fuyumi, but he accidentally ran into someone. "I'm so sorry!" He apologized, but the man dropped to the floor in agony. "M-Mister?" Shoto asked, scared. The man suddenly started screaming, and Shoto felt his body start to tremble. Suddenly, the man had giant bat wings springing from his back. His hands turned to claws, and his body started growing fur. His yelling turned into growls. Shoto felt his body freeze in fear. He had no idea what was going on. The man suddenly got very quiet, and Shoto softly went, "M-Mister?"
The man stood up and lunged at Shoto. Shoto screamed and dropped all the food he had taken for his siblings. The man-well bat had started making guttural growls and was drooling at the mouth. He lunged at Shoto again, who ran out of the store screaming. Tears started to well in his eyes, but he didn't stop running. He knew that if he stopped running, the bat would get him, but he was still a child. He couldn't run that fast. "HELP!" he screamed over and over again, hoping anyone would put a stop to the bat chasing him. There had to be heroes in the area; why wasn't he saved? Shoto screamed over and over for someone to help him. He felt his legs start to hurt from running so much and his stomach cramping, but he pushed through it. It wasn't enough, though, because the bat had grabbed him by his stomach and started flying. Shoto started screaming even louder, begging any hero to save him. "HELP ME! HELP ME PLEASE!" he yelled, but his cries seemed meaningless. The bat kept soaring higher and higher. Shoto could see above the rooftops, and people started to look smaller and smaller. "PLEASE! FUYUMI! FUYUMI! NATSUO! PLEASE, ANYONE!" he was sobbing at this point, terrified. What was going to happen to him? Was he going to die? "I WANT MY MOM! I WANT MY SISTER! I WANT MY BROTHER! HELP!" he screamed so loudly his voice started to rasp. He heard a loud BANG, and before he knew it, he was falling. The bat had let him go. He was going to die. He would never get to hang out with his siblings again. He would never get to play soccer with them. He would never have Fuyumi make him snacks again. He would never get to see his mom again. His whole body went numb as he plummeted. His life started to flash before his eyes. He was lonely.
"CRAWLER!" he heard someone yell, and when Shoto thought he was going to splat, he felt himself wrapped in someone's arms.
"I GOT THE KID!" the man holding him yelled back. Shoto looked up at the man who had just saved his life. He wore an All Might hoodie with a black mask on his face and red sunglasses on top of his head. His brown eyes looked down at Shoto, still trembling from the event. The Crawler looked down at the kid he had saved. He had half-white and half-red hair standing up everywhere from being manhandled by the bat creature. His heterochromatic eyes were red from sobbing so hard, and he had snot all over his face. He showed no sign of bruising, though, which was good. He still had some tears streaming down his face. "Poor kid…" Koichi mumbled and grabbed some tissues from his bag, wiping Shoto's face.
"Tha-Thank you," Shoto had rasped out. His voice had become strained from all the screaming, and he still looked quite shaken.
"No need to thank me, kid; it's what I do best." Koichi stuck his hand into his bag again and grabbed a water bottle. "Here, drink some water. It'll help your voice." He untwisted the cap and gave it to Shoto. Shoto drank the whole bottle of water quite fast.
A large man in a mask covering half his face and a green trench coat walked by. He was accompanied by a girl with pink hair, black eye makeup, and a skirt. "Is the kid okay?" Knuckleduster asked. Pop Step waved at Shoto and gave him a soft smile. He waved back.
"Yeah, he's fine. There are no bruises, and he doesn't seem like anything internal. Was anyone injured?" Koichi asked.
"No one was hurt; I could lead everyone else to a secure location," Pop Step says. "Though the old man here wasn't careful enough," she stomped on his foot.
"I got the job done," he said with a scoff.
Koichi shook his head and sighed. Shoto found it a bit funny, and he relaxed a bit more. At this point, he was still in Koichi's arms and had finished his water bottle. Pop Step noticed this and softly took it out of his hands to throw away. "Th-thank you," he said softly.
"No problem for such a brave kid," she said with a smile, and Shoto couldn't deny that it made him happy. He had never considered himself brave.
"I'm going to take him to his parents. I'll meet you two at my apartment", Koichi said, and they nodded. Pop Step waved Shoto goodbye, and they were gone. "So, do you know your parents' phone numbers?" Koichi asked.
Shoto knew his father's phone number, but he would rather experience that whole event 800 times than admit to his father that a villain had kidnaped him. Who knows the consequences Fuyumi would receive for losing him? He felt sick at the thought. "No, besides, I came with my sister and brother," he lied. He didn't feel good about lying, but it is necessary now. "I don't know their phone numbers, though," he admitted. He started to get upset again; what if he had to call his father? What if they got in trouble because he wandered away?
"Hey, that's okay. What are their names, and where did you last see them? We'll go there first and see if they're in the area," Koichi said.
"Their names are Fuyumi and Natsuo," Shoto answered, "and I was last at a store um.. It had green in the front and two plants in the front, and it was one of the bigger buildings".
"Oh, I know that place! I'll take you right there, kiddo, don't worry," Koichi said and paused. Also, I never asked your name! What is it?"
"Shoto," he responded.
"Well, Shoto," Koichi started, "The Crawler is going to help you find your siblings."
Koichi and he slowly made their way to the store, though they stopped because someone was handing out free flowers. Shoto took two to give one to each of his siblings as an apology for wandering away.
When they approached the building, it wasn't hard to figure out which people were Shoto's siblings. There was a girl with white hair with small red spots yelling and sobbing if anyone saw her brother. Her eyes were red. She was trembling, and large tears were falling down her face. She looked terrified and filled with worry.
Fuyumi had never felt like such a bad sister before today. She couldn't protect Shoto from their father and couldn't even watch him while doing errands. What kind of awful sister couldn't even watch her brother? What if he was involved with the villain attack? What if he had gotten hurt? She didn't think she would ever forgive herself. She wouldn't have long to think about it, though. If their father knew she had lost Shoto, she wouldn't make it through the next 24 hours.
There was a man with white hair and a few small red streaks on his sides. He was running after anyone and asking if they had seen their brother. Tears fell down his face, and he stopped anyone from walking near him. He would almost beg to hear if they had heard anything about their brother.
Natsuo knew he was no brother of the year, but this was a new low. Shoto was nowhere to be found. Natsuo should have noticed when he walked away. Should have made sure he was okay, but now Shoto was nowhere to be seen. He hoped Shoto was safe, for both his sake and theirs. Natsuo felt his body go numb at this realization. They really couldn't leave without Shoto alive.
Shoto felt a deep ache in his gut after seeing his siblings like this. "NATSUO! FUYUMI!" Shoto yelled and leaped from Koichi's arms. "I'M OKAY!" He was going to walk to them but was immediately tackled by his siblings. They cried while hugging Shoto tightly. They kept yelling how happy they were that Shoto felt so horrible for making them stressed like this. He pulled out the flowers he had gotten. "Here you go. I'm sorry for wandering away; it won't happen again," he said softly.
"Oh Shoto", Fuyumi grabbed the flower and sniffled. She didn't deserve such a sweet little brother. "You have no reason to apologize; we're so happy you're okay," she gave him another hug.
"Exactly, Sho", Natsuo squeezes Shoto with a relieved expression.
Shoto couldn't lose the feeling that he had hurt his siblings, but he wouldn't focus on it at the moment.
"You all have a great day!" Koichi said, getting ready to go before Fuyumi tapped his shoulder.
"Wait! Please let me get you something for bringing our brother back to us", Fuyumi says, grabbing her purse.
"It's okay. Besides, I couldn't stand by and let your brother get hurt."
"Being alone, right!? Because of, um, stranger danger," Shoto interrupted. He couldn't tell Fuyumi and Natsuo about the bat attack. He couldn't. That would stress them out, and he had already done enough by making them cry and freak out. He hoped The Crawler had gotten the hint.
"I…" It took Koichi a moment to realize Shoto didn't want to tell them, and that really wasn't his place. "Of course, you couldn't leave a kid alone by himself, especially with that villain attack, but don't worry; he was safe."
Shoto felt eternally grateful to The Crawler at that moment.
"Still, please, there's an ice cream shop right there. Let me buy you something as a token of my gratitude, " she begs him, and Koichi finally agrees.
Natsuo and Shoto hang out outside, with Shoto on Natsuo's shoulders. When Fuyumi handed Koichi the ice cream she bought for him, he thanked her.
"Oh, by the way, I know you may feel bad about what happened, but I wanted to tell you that Shoto talked about you both the whole time," Koichi said and took a bite of his ice cream. He said you were the best siblings and how his sister is the nicest person in the world. He said you are so thoughtful; it's part of the reason he asked to stop and get you both flowers."
Fuyumi couldn't help the wide smile plastered on her face when Koichi had said that. Shoto thought she was the nicest person in the world. While she didn't find herself deserving of that title, knowing Shoto thought so highly of her made her feel so happy. "He said all those things?" she asked him to make sure.
"Indeed", Koichi smiled back. He walked outside, but the police saw Koichi.
"CRAWLER!" the police yelled.
"SHIT! GUYS, THANK YOU FOR THE ICE CREAM! KIDDO, MAKE SURE YOU STICK WITH YOUR SIBLINGS BYE!" he shoved the ice cream in his mouth and slid away as the police followed him.
"Fuyumi, why are the police chasing the Crawler?" Shoto asked.
"Well, he is a vigilante," Fuyumi pointed out.
"But he was so nice…", Shoto said softly. Koichi was nicer than his father ever was, and he was a whole pro hero, but was he a criminal?
"A-anyway!" she said to change the subject, "let's get home, Shoto. I'll make anything you want."
They went home and ate, but Shoto couldn't help but think about what had happened. The bat, his siblings crying, and, most importantly, why Koichi was a criminal. He couldn't stop thinking about that part. His father had told him vigilantes were vile, but Koichi was quite nice to him. He had cared about his well-being. Shoto stayed up for a while, wondering what the difference between a vigilante and a pro-hero was. Maybe pro heroes were supposed to be mean? That's why vigilantes are bad. Maybe it was just his father? The thought made Shoto's chest hurt, but he stayed awake thinking about it till he fell asleep.