Morning Commute Compromised (Closed)

His morning began as all mornings began, with the incessant screaming of his alarm clock; an annoying and persistent buzzing that would not be silenced until he personally reached out from under his blankets and smashed his fist atop the alarm clock's lone button. It would deactivate the alarm and he would roll out of bed, groggy, and not eager to see the light of the sun; which, ultimately, blinded him as it did every morning.

It had been another restless night. His window was open. A breeze whispered through. It tossed his curtains and it was mildly comforting. But it did little to help him shake off the same dream he had the night before, and the night before that, and the night before that. It was a recurring nightmare, repetitive, like being stuck watching the same show's reruns over and over again on some kind of loop and the remote control was lost.

After leaving his bed, and popping every joint he could possibly pop, Hotaru performed his morning ritual; simple calisthenics, jumping jacks, push ups, squats, pull-ups, and even shadow boxing and all before he even headed to the bathroom and showered. Ice cold showers really woke him up in the morning. This was followed by throwing on his clothes; this time, a uniform. It was his first day, after all.

Once he finished tying his laces, a pair of tight and comfortable black boots covered his feet, he proceeded on to the next section of his morning schedule; making breakfast. He prepared breakfast, alone, as per the usual. Two plates of food were served at the table, as per the usual. Furthermore, he sat down at the table alone. As per the usual.

"Thank you for the meal," he said to no one in particular before he dug in; nothing particularly fancy, a simple breakfast of buttered toast for himself and a small breakfast for his mother. He knew she would leave her room at her own pace and come eat when she felt like it.

Once his food was eaten, Hotaru stuffed a pair of headphones over his head, then he grabbed his school bag in one hand, and a particularly large and heavy bag in the other. The heavy bag, he draped over his shoulder, the school bag was held at his hip. "I'm heading out, don't worry about dinner," he called out; he spoke aloud enough that he knew he would be heard, even through the shut door of her bedroom. "I'll be back soon..."

He gave one final look at the apartment. No one to wave him good bye. No one to say good morning. As per the usual.

He shut the door and was on his way.

Perhaps it was because of his music? Perhaps it was because he was lost in his own thoughts? Perhaps it was because he just wasn't paying attention to his surroundings? Either way, several moments before the Dragon Queen had managed to arrive at the convenience store, Hotaru was there. He turned at the door and walked in.

The door jingled cheerfully as he entered and he walked past the cashier, whose hands were up in the air; they were shaking, eyes filled with dread and fear. Standing in front of the cashier were two thugs, one was holding a knife. They appeared surprised at the sudden intrusion but even more surprised that he didn't even cast them even the tiniest of glances. They were standing there, knife up threateningly toward the cashier, and he walked in - jingle jingle - and he walked past.

"What the fu-" One of the two thugs muttered, watching the student walk past and start peering through the shelves, grabbing some snacks and then continuing his way around the store. He was bobbing his head slightly, listening to some good music, moving on auto-pilot, deaf to the world.

It only became apparent something was wrong when he went back towards the cashier and saw the two thugs. He saw the cashier and stopped.

"What's in the bag?" One of the thugs called out, eyeballing the bag that he was carrying.

".....Eh?" He removed the headphones. "What was that?"

"You think this is funny? What's in the bag? Hand it over or I'll cut you open from groin to nose," The thug wielding the knife held it up threateningly.

"You really shouldn't be doing this. This will get the attention of somebody..." He commented, his voice sounded bored. The cashier, on the other hand, had used the opportunity to hit the silent alarm.

"Cut the shit, kid, hand over the bag, now!" The punk growled. He did not appear to be willing to play games. In fact, as Hotaru saw, he looked the type to stab his own mother for a candy bar.

It would be around this time that Dragon Queen would be outside of the store.

"...If you insist," He commented then tossed the heavy and large bag to him.

The thug went to catch it. He caught it. The bag's weight, however, was more than he had anticipated and he screamed before he fell to the ground holding the heavy bag, which crushed the foot of his accomplice. He howled.

He charged in, ducking below the thrown punch of the screaming, squealing, thug with the broken foot - there was no way that bag fell on his foot and didn't break something - and he retaliated with an uppercut that caught the thug in the jaw. The blow knocked him back and into a display rack, spilling chips and candies everywhichway.

"You punk," The first thug staggered up to his feet, his face radioactive with rage as he held up his large switchblade and charged forward.

WC: 955

The thug whom he had punched was barely able to stay upright; the blow had gotten him right on the jaw, and apparently he had a jaw made of glass because he was swaying on his feet. In fact, from how he had fallen backwards, one could surmise that he had never been punched before.

The other one, however, had gone for Hotaru without thinking twice; he had a knife in his hand and he wanted to embed the blade deep in the boy's flesh, make him bleed for what he had done. He had been foolish; getting involved in their affairs was a mistake he could not allow to slide.

Then everyone felt the jolt. And the thug turned in time to see a massive clawed hand thrust itself into the room through the door.

The thug flailed, screamed, clawed, and fought but was dragged out of the store, pulled out by some kind of immense being that Hotaru had not even seen the full body of. All he saw was scales and claws and the thug was dragged out.

What the hell was that? He stood there, in stunned silence, as the second thug was grabbed up as well. He too flailed and kicked and screamed and attempted to hold onto anything and everything to avoid being dragged outside to what he felt was his doom but to no avail.

Was there some kind of monster out there? Hotaru didn't move. He wasn't exactly hiding; he was standing not far from the aisle where the second thug had been snatched from, in plain sight. But after the dragon spoke up - which threw him for a loop - and no other thugs came into view, the white haired youth theorized that those two were it, they were the lone muggers attempting to rob the convenience store.

"There were only two of them," The owner of the store called out, peering at the doorway, and although the dragon had introduced themselves as a hero, they appeared nervous about coming out from behind their counter all the same. After all, a dragon had just dragged two men kicking and screaming out of his convenience store.

"There's dragons in this town?" Hotaru spoke up, curious, as he looked toward the store entrance, "Are there unicorns and kappas too?" As he said this, he picked up his heavy bag, draping it over his shoulder once more, though he still did not move from his spot. Two thugs, he could handle, but a dragon was an entirely separate story, "Those two guys alive out there?"

WC: 430
CWC: 1,385

The deep voice outside had good hearing. Hotaru was still confused, wondering just what was going on - were there heroes like that in this town? In this city? Or to be more dramatic, anywhere? He was a bit behind when it came to heroes; he only knew a very select few, but for the most part, he hadn't paid much attention to the hero scene, which probably made him somewhat of an outcast compared to most kids his age. Most of the other students in his old school couldn't shut up about heroes; who their favorite hero was, what hero could win a hero on hero bare knuckle brawl, who had the most awesome and overpowered quirks, who would be the best boyfriend or girlfriend, and other weird boring discussions that he never really felt concerned with - nor was ever really invited in joining to discuss, which he did not mind. The idea of talking about heroes never really crossed his mind; which was odd considering his mother was one - or at least, she had been.

She never brought work home. That was one thing that his mother always made sure never to do, bring work home.

It was why Hotaru spent most of his time not really paying attention to the heroes of the world, the ones using their quirk to stop crime or gain fame and fortune, an odd goal for a hero but he wouldn't knock it.

But, now, there he was in a convenience store, watching and waiting to see if that immense dragon would poke its arm through again and rummage about. But it didn't. Instead, it spoke to him, somewhat annoyed, about how this was its city. Well, as far as he knew, he had never heard of a dragon in town but apparently now he had. "Oh, apologies," He spoke, "I was unaware of....dragons." He wasn't being sarcastic, he sounded genuinely surprised.

He looked even more surprised when she walked in. Hand on her hip, hips swaying, her eyes falling on him and then walking over to him.

The white haired youth didn't move from his spit. And, to top it off, his eyes never left hers. Most men would find their eyes wandering, staring at the woman with a wandering eye from head to toe and....well to various other prominent areas, but not him. He kept staring her in the face as she walked over and spoke to him.

"Using your quirk without a license is against the law, so I avoid it," He commented, "They were a couple of petty thugs looking for a fast score. They didn't even bother to use their quirks in here; either their quirks aren't that impressive, or they didn't feel they needed them dealing with me."

He shot one glance over at the store owner when he spoke, telling the Dragon Queen that he had not, in fact, used his quirk; which was the truth. He had yet to actively use it, and he had felt no need to use it.

When she asked him his name, he peered back at her, somewhat straightening up and bowed his head slightly, "Kurogane Hotaru," He said his name quickly and politely, "Apologies for the previous comment. I'm not really big on the super hero scene. I tend to try to avoid it whenever possible. I guess this time, I walked into the wrong store at the wrong time. I was heading somewhere and popped in here, saw them robbing the place and when one of them demanded my bag, I gave it to them. Perhaps I should have warned them it was heavy."

Even as he spoke, saying something that most would find oddly humorous, he said it in a serious tone, as if he knew he was speaking to someone of a higher station than he and fully recognizing his position.

WC: 645
CWC: 2,030

The woman's face dropped when he told her that he had never heard of any dragons; well, it had been the God's honest truth. Hotaru had not really gotten too big into the hero scene; perhaps it was because his mother had been a hero. Perhaps it was because of his father being a villain, most of the other kids avoided speaking to him. Perhaps it was because he just had not found the topic particularly interesting, at least at the time, and especially after what happened to his mother, he didn't bother getting too interested in the topic.

Of course, things somewhat changed after that incident. He did not leap into the hero fandom but he did find himself wanting to become a hero, training to get stronger, though he had to be honest, he was not doing it for the same reasons that most heroes joined the business nowadays. Many did become heroes for the sake of being good heroes. Some became heroes because it was the right thing to do, their conscience and their desire to do good demanded it. But, others - many, but maybe not most - became heroes simply for the fame and the fortune.

And truth be told, Hotaru had not originally begun training to become a hero for either of those two reasons. He had begun training for a simpler, older, and more straight forward reason; good old fashioned revenge.

But, as he stood in front of the Dragon Queen, seeing her dismay at his utter ignorance of King Dragon - whoever that was- he had to admit he did feel somewhat bad for not knowing about them. Perhaps their name was something that they held very highly?

"I haven't heard of a King Dragon." He spoke, his tone somewhat apologetic as he said it as he felt rather uncomfortable, not sure if he had hurt the woman's feelings or not.

Still, it was what she said next that got his attention more; one could see the way his eyes suddenly snapped to attention, his jaw somewhat tightening at the mention of his mother though he did not appear to grow in any way agitated; she was just a sensitive subject.

"She's doing better, or, as better as one can be." When she introduced herself, Hotaru felt himself bow his head, an almost instinctive show of respect to the pro-hero before him, "Pleased to meet you," he said politely, "I should start heading out. I'm not sure whether the police would want any statements from me, but I should get to school so as to avoid being late on my first day," He did however pluck out some money from his pocket, "I should probably pay for my purchases first."

WC: 455
CWC: 2,485