Chereads / Fixing A Broken Mask / Chapter 2 - The Alleyway

Chapter 2 - The Alleyway

A group of three young teens was strolling into a dark alleyway with flyers on the walls of a missing boy last seen at Takoba Municipal Beach Park. They talked about another classmate, which seemed to get on their nerves. One of the boys with short, spikey, sandy blonde hair was getting so irritated at their mention of their classmate that he kicked a liter of soda in annoyance, not knowing the consequences.

"Even when we were kids, he was already a nerd who believed in a dream…" said the spikey-haired teen while exploding a soda can in his hand. "I'm getting angry just remembering that."

The spiky-haired teen looked back at his two friends and started yelling at them to stop smoking so his school record didn't look bad. But he had failed to notice a slimy, gooey creature was slowly coming out of the liter of soda and approaching him from behind. The so-called friends warned him, but after the slimy creature captured their friend, they left him behind.

"You're feisty." said the slime creature in a hoarse voice. "Unlike the previous kid, I tried to make it into my skinsuit."

The slime creature started to suffocate the spiky-haired boy but was interrupted by a young child giggling. Both the boy and slime were perplexed at the unexpected laugh. While the slime creature was distracted by the giggling, the spiky-haired boy finally took this chance to free his mouth to breathe. But since this was not a situation to laugh about, they looked around to find the source, and the spiky-haired boy found it. At the side of a building was a boy, who was the same age as him, sitting at the edge. He wore a paper bag covering his face; there were two oval holes so the boy could see, and the paper bag boy painted a smile that smelled like oil right where his mouth was. He had dirty clothes anyone could find in a garbage dump: a dirty white sweatshirt in which the sleeves hid the boy's arms and hands, baggy navy sweatpants, and light green slippers.

"Hey, Loser!!! What are you laughing at?!" asked the spiky-haired boy.

The slime creature now looked in the same direction his skinsuit was staring. The boy with the smiling paper bag stopped giggling and tilted his head in confusion. The paper bag boy seemed like he couldn't understand what the spiky blonde boy was saying, but he stood up to where the spikey blonde and slime creature were to see only the paper bag boy's mouth. The spiky blonde boy stared in shock, seeing the other boy's mouth smiling in amusement. The paper bag boy made the spiky blonde boy pissed and started making a bunch of explosions. The slime creature was now trying to suffocate his capture again, ignoring what he now assumed to be a one-person audience. The paper bag boy watched in amusement as the spiky blonde struggled.

"I have no idea why this pomeranian kid can't beat a mere slime." the paper bag boy said to himself in confusion. "It should be easy; just hit it sixteen times for it to split, but he's been exploding it so many times that it should have split already… Maybe it's that strange ability that these people have."

As the paper bag boy was confused, the building wall he was on began to crumble from the explosions from the spikey blonde boy and the slime creature trying to get his capture under control. To ensure he wouldn't fall off the building, the paper bag boy backed away from the edge of the building. "If the slime creature is part of the strange abilities, then the explosions are the pomeranian's abilities." The paper bag boy noted this information to himself. After a little while, a crowd of people started to observe the scene of buildings catching on fire and walls falling in front of them, but there was also a group of weirdly dressed people trying to attack the slime creature or get a captured boy out of its slimy body.

As the group of weirdly dressed people was trying to find a way to get the captured boy out, a lady wearing a purple and pale tan-colored skin-tight bodysuit with orange stripes was now growing as tall as a giant. Concerned about getting caught, the paper bag boy hid behind an air conditioner box. But apparently, she was useless in this situation.

"I can't do anything if there are not at least two lanes of traffic!" The giant lady stated.

"Explosions and flames are not my cups of tea...!" stated a man whose skin was made of wood. "I give my place to someone else this time!"

"We expect your help. Thank you! Turning off this fire requires my full attention!" Fireman stated. "The firetruck is not here yet? What the heck?!"

"It is so slippery that you can't catch him with bare hands and more because this kid has a good 'Quirk,' the only solution is to wait it out!" A man wearing a large headband with a yellow and black-striped caution pattern, which anyone could mistake for a muscular construction worker, explained, "Because of that, we believe it to be like a minefield! Even going there, it's difficult to do anything!"

The group of weirdly dressed people was so focused on the slime creature and the spikey blonde boy that they didn't notice that there was another spectator on top of a building. But no one could blame them for not seeing the boy because they all focused on the slime creature and the captured boy. They tried to fight the slime creature but couldn't do it without harming the boy. They also tried to grab the boy and yank him out of the slime's body, but the slime creature would attack the group back to keep a distance.

"It's useless! No one here can stop this!!" said one of the weirdly dressed people. "We can only wait for someone with an advantageous 'Quirk' to show up!!"

"What will you do with the number of victims growing during this time? Bring someone, and NOW!" ordered the Fireman, who was trying to put out the fires in the building across from the paper bag boy.

"It makes me feel sorry for the kid, but he will have to wait a little longer!" claimed another person wearing a fireman's uniform.

"Dang, it!" The muscular construction man clenched his fits in annoyance and frustration. "If only I had the power to send him to the other world or something like that...!"

While that was happening, a skinny, blonde man rushed to the back of the crowd to observe the conflict. He blamed himself for something and contemplated his actions. That's what the paper bag boy could tell, at the least. "Why does that skinny, old man's facial expression say 'he can be the one who caused this?' He wasn't here when that boy got captured..." The paper bag boy stared and questioned the skinny man in the crowd. But he was soon distracted by another person in the group. "Is that guy an idiot? If he thinks he'll be able to defeat that slime, then he's got a death wish."

A boy with short, messy dark-green hair and green eyes was running toward the slime creature, and everyone stared in shock at his actions. The muscular construction man tried to warn the kid by yelling at him to stop, but the green-haired boy kept going and attacked the slime creature by throwing his backpack onto what seemed to be the slime's face, which caused the part of the slime's grip on the spikey haired boy's mouth to be released.

"Kacchan!" screamed the green-haired boy. He grabbed the slime's body and tried to dig his way to this so-called "Kacchan."

"What are you doing here, Deku?!" 'Kacchan' asked in frustration.

"My legs moved by themselves!" 'Deku' quickly answered. "I... don't understand why, either! But I couldn't leave you like this, Kacchan!"

After hearing "Deku's" reason why he started to help, "Kacchan," the paper bag boy, was intrigued and smiled at what seemed to be a similar situation between a different pair of best friends, teens. But he wasn't the only one with a burning fire in their soul. The skinny old man was now growing, and big muscles were starting to develop; he quickly appeared in front of the slime creature before it could attack "Deku" and grabbed both boys' arms. After getting a good grip on the boys, he snatched them away from the slime creature.

The paper bag boy was now sitting at the edge of the building, so intrigued by the scene in front of him that he started to lean closer to get a better view. But the boy wasn't expecting the used-to-be skinny older man to clench his fist and go for an attack with a single punch. The punch from the older man was so strong that it caused the wind to feel like a hurricane had passed by, and with that wind, the slime creature split into clumps of slime. Astonished by the power of the punch, the paper bag boy closed his eyes and felt the paper bag fly off as he fell off the building into a dumpster filled with garbage. As the boy lay in the trash, he stared at the once-cloudless sky, turning dark and cloudy. The once sunny blue sky was now crying down when the older man did the after-effects of the punch.

"All Might!" The boy was in a daze as he heard the crowd cheer for the man named "All Might?"

"That name was in English!?" The boy tries to sit up and get a good look to see if what he just heard is correct. And it was true; the people were saying the English words: 'all' and 'might.' Excited to know that these people could speak English, the boy climbed out of the dumpster and tried to quietly head back to his "base" so no one could see his exposed face, but he soon came to a halt after hearing what seemed to be someone calling out to him.

"Hey, kid!" The boy turned around to face the person who might be calling out to him. He looked behind him to see who the voice belonged to. It was the man that seemed to have wood for the skin. After getting his answer, the boy quickly turned his head back and ran behind the dumpster he fell in.

"I can't let anyone see my face!" the boy told himself as he crouched down to look around for something to hide his face. As he heard the wooden man coming closer, he quickly started looking underneath the dumpster. The footsteps kept coming closer; his mind was so clouded by looking for something to cover his face that he didn't realize the wooden man was standing a foot away.

"Hey..." the wooden man softly greeted as he crouched to the boy's level. As a response, the boy flinched and covered his face with his hands, which caused the wooden man to be more concerned for his well-being.

"It's alright, you're safe n..." The wooden man stretched his arm to comfort the boy, but as if sensing the stranger's hand coming closer, he screamed, "Don't TOUCH ME!!!"

Everyone in the area could hear a young boy's voice speaking English. They all looked to the section the voice was coming from, but all they saw was the wooden man crouched down and his arm stretched forward halfway. The wooden man seemed to be talking to the source of the voice behind the dumpster.

"Hey! It's okay!" The wooden man now speaks in English. "You're safe now! No one is going to...!"

Not giving the wooden man a chance to speak, the boy quickly stands up and starts to put his hands down. "I have to get out of here!"

"Wait! You're that...!" Before the wooden man could finish his sentence. As if following an order, the boy started to run in the opposite direction of the crowd. As the boy ran away, the boy, 'Kacchan,' began to yell at him. "Where do you think you're going, Loser!" But the boy ignored him and kept running until he turned to another alleyway, disappearing from everyone's sight.

After seeing the boy turn into another alleyway, the wooden man ran after him. As he tried to catch up to the boy and started yelling for him in English, he was already too late. The boy from the poster was already long gone.

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Breaking News

An Injured Child Was Found At Takoba Municipal Beach Park: Update

The young boy, who was seen at Takoba Municipal Beach Park, was seen at the Slime Villain Incident. He seems to have changed clothes from a torn-up prisoner custom to a dirty white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He appears not to be wearing any shoes, only white socks. He seems to be very frightened by strangers. It has also come to our attention that he is not from somewhere other than Japan. We believe he is from America, so he needs help understanding our language, Japanese. So if you ever see this boy, please speak to him in English and talk calmly.

His description is a fifteen-year-old-ish boy with emerald green eyes and dirty blonde hair. He has freckles and scars on his face, maybe on his body. He wears a dirty white T-shirt, grey sweatpants, and white socks. He seems very thin and pale. If you find this boy, please call the authorities to ensure his safety.