(Third POV)

???- “Kya!...”

She screams out a little from the impact before quickly closing her eyes and waiting for the slight pain that would come from her behind. After waiting for a moment, however, she slowly opens her eyes to find that she is, in fact, not falling and is being supported by a man in a black suit with silver highlights and looking at her with glowing blue eyes.

A feeling of concern faintly drifts off that figure, calming the girl down somewhat, as the slight curiosity in her eyes quickly become replaced with fear.

“I caused trouble for him. I'm going to get punished. He is going to hurt me.”

Those thoughts fill her head quickly. But immediately those thoughts stop when she hears what the man says next.

Arata- “Are you ok?”

Those words that she hears now and again from those “caretakers” that try and calm her down are completely different when said by the man in front of her. Instead of a feeling of impassiveness or slight fear, she feels something she hasn’t felt ever since her parents died and that she believed she would never feel again.

-----

(MC POV)

As soon as I saw this girl, I immediately knew who she was. An unfortunate girl exploited by selfish and perhaps high as fuck people.

Eri. She has no last name because her father died when she was very young. Around 4 years old, if I remember correctly. As for where her mother is… well, she disowned Eri. The reason being that it was Eri herself that was the cause of her father’s death.

With no parents to take care of her, she was taken under the care of a man named Kai Chisaki. However, once he realised what Eri’s quirk is and it's potential… well, that’s where the bandages came from.

Eri’s quirk is called Rewind. To put it simply, it can reverse the state of a living being’s body. The quirk is an accumulation type quirk, meaning the more time passes, the more “energy” it gathers, and therefore, the stronger the quirk will get. You can tell how much energy is gathered by the size of the horn on her head.

This is the quirk that killed her father. Because she doesn’t know how to control it, she rewinded her father’s body back to the point where it didn’t even exist. Kai, who realised this, sought to use her quirk to make “quirk destroying bullets”.

And now, that very same girl is in my arms while slightly shivering. If someone else who didn’t know the context of this scene walked in on us, they would hide behind the corner while calling the police.

Momo- “Moshi moshi, keisatsu desu ka?”

Arata- “Matte! You saw that she bumped into me! I'm not a lolicon! Believe me!”

Momo- ಠ.ಠ

I ignore Momo for now because there’s something more important at hand. I look back down at the little girl in my arms and open my mouth while retracting the top half of my helmet and showing my eyes and hair while concealing my nose and mouth.

Arata- “Are you hurt anywhere? My suit isn’t exactly hard, but you still should have felt something. Can you stand?”

I keep talking while lifting her onto her feet so I don’t have to keep holding her in a questionable position. I wanted to completely reveal my whole face to reassure Eri more, but a certain someone should be following her closely behind and I don’t want to let him know what I look like just yet.

But I wonder why. She should be meeting Izuku who is on patrol. Is it because of my luck that we can meet? Or is it just a coincidence due to a butterfly effect? Oh well, this works for me quite nicely.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

The sound of rhythmic tapping sounds out from the ally that Eri just emerged from. Emerging from the shadows is the man I was expecting-

WAIT, IT’S THE PEDO BEAR!?

*BEEP!*

*We are having difficulties, please stand by!*

 The sound of rhythmic tapping sounds out from the ally that Eri just emerged from. Emerging from the shadows is the man I was expecting. The “foster father” of Eri and the shadow in her heart, Kai Chisaki.

Kai- “You can't do that, Eri, causing trouble for this nice hero. Come on, let’s go home.”

He “scolds” Eri before looking over to me, who’s kneeling in front of her, and Momo, who’s standing behind me.

Kai- “Sorry for any trouble my daughter caused. She tends to get excited while playing and hurts herself. It’s quite a problem.”

Arata- “Oh, no worries! It’s fine!”

I say, smiling back. Not like he can see my smile anyway, with the mask over my mouth, but I show it through my eyes.

Nyan- Arata, what’s going on?

Momo messaged me through the neuro linker. As expected of my girlfriend, she already knew something was amiss, especially with the way I was acting. I don’t smile often, you see, courtesy of my [Poker Face] skill.

EggWhisperer- This pedo bear- I mean, this man is a bad guy.

That was all I needed to say. Momo immediately went on full alert, of course, she didn’t show it and kept a smiling façade.

…

This woman is scary.

Arata- “That mask, are you with the Hassaikai? You’re pretty well known in the area.”

Kai- “I'm just sensitive to grime and dust, don’t mind it. I've never seen either of you before, are you new to the hero business?”

Momo- “That’s right. We’re students, actually.”

Momo decided to speak up at this point. Well, it would be pretty weird if I was the only one talking.

But honestly, this guy is acting like anything BUT a sadistic overlord. Furthermore, his tone of voice is just oozing the attitude of “whatever goes, goes.”

…

That might be the weed doing its work, now that I think about it.

We continue exchanging a few more sentences before we decide it’s good to end it here. I want to take this guy down, but then everyone in his organisation will run away and escape. It would be good to wait a few more hours before tracking him down and infiltrating their base.

I get up to leave but to my surprise.

Eri- “Don’t… go…”

She barely whispered it so Momo didn’t hear either, even though she’s right next to me.

Arata- “Your daughter… seems scared.”

A slightly risky move but I need to do this.

Kai- “Well, I just got done scolding her.”

Arata- “These bandages don’t look like something you would get from “playing around” though.”

Kai- “She falls a lot.”

Kai is starting to leak his irritation into his voice. It’s indiscernible, but [Sixth Sense] picked it up.

Arata- “For a girl to be trembling in fear like this… I don’t think it’s normal.”

I say as I pull Eri into my embrace. I use [Sixth Sense] to transmit my emotions to her. Safety, concern and even assurance. I open my mouth and whisper to her so that no one else can hear. I even use [Vector Manipulation] to make sure no one knows what I'm saying.

Arata- “One day, I’ll save you. Wait for me until then.”

Just wait one more day. That’s all you need to do. In fact, I might even break in tonight.

Eri, who was still unconsciously shivering even in my embrace, suddenly stopped. All traces of fear on her face when she first bumped into me left.

She doesn’t know why, but she feels like she can trust him. Call it a hunch, an instinct, or maybe a delusion, but… it’s the first sign of hope she’s seen in a long, long time.

Slowly, she let go of me and walked back to Kai, who seemed surprised at her action. He quickly hid surprise though and turned around to leave, quietly watching any sudden movements I would make out of the corner of his eye.

I mean, it’s a bit suspicious, I suddenly let Eri go while I was questioning his treatment of her. Well, he’s not complaining.

EggWhisperer- Momo, make an IBTD-03 and throw it on him.

Nyan- Already done.

IBTD-03, or Itty Bitty Tracking Device version 3, is exactly like what its name says, a tracking device. Except it’s so small, it’s unnoticeable and undetectable to all technological scanning devices. If someone’s quirk sees it, well, bad luck I guess, but I can't help that.

Just before he leaves my sight, however, I use [Book of Existence] on him. He’s a main villain after all, he should have a Divine Augment. A book with his name on the cover appears in my head as the chibi me’s start reading.

Now, normally I can't go save her right now. I need to wait for Nighteye’s agency to make a move first if I want the timeline to remain undamaged. But…

I take out a card from my inventory and look at it.

*Smirk*

I can go on ahead without you Izuku, right?

[Card: Probability Allowance]