Thieves [Hiro/Asahi]

You know, it was actually pretty odd when you thought about it. Despite being in a position in society where most everyone looked down on him, Hiro always felt perfectly at home within a crowd. Surrounded by all different sorts of people, from all different ways of life, he wasn't some street urchin to be scoffed at anymore, he was just another person. Aside from that the simple truth of the matter was that he genuinely liked people. Back when he still had his voice, he would chat up random strangers all the time. People were fascinating; each and every one of them was unique and interesting in their own way. Hell, even that police officer that chased him away was probably a decent person on his own, it's just that when you added him to a group and put the expectations of the whole system on him, he turned into a right arsehole. Because that was the really interesting thing; people went from thoughtful, well-intentioned individuals, to stupid, unthinking, easily manipulated groups when you put them together. That fact caused all sorts of problems in the world, but then again, maybe that was part of the reason why he could feel at ease; because he knew exactly how crowds worked, and he knew how to get what he needed from them.

Now, there were two main schools of thought when it came to pickpocketing. The first was the more common way that most people thought of; you sneak up on someone and make your lift undetected, slipping away before your mark ever notices you. The second method was one of distraction; you overload someone's sensory information or otherwise occupy their mind so that they don't even recognize that you've taken something, even if they're staring right at you. That second method was the one that Hiro was far more practiced in. It allowed him to take advantage of his social tendencies and made it so that he didn't have to worry about going unnoticed around so many people, which was, as already stated, nigh impossible. The one major downside to Hiro's approach was that it often took a bit longer to find a suitable target. If you approached a person properly it was pretty easy to avoid being spotted, but for his methods he needed to set up an interaction that didn't feel too forced, something organic that didn't make what he was doing too obvious.

And that was the first hurdle. Luckily larger groups of people created far more opportunities, so it wouldn't be too long. Best to start off with something easy, like... yeah, that would do. Hiro's gaze soon fell upon a girl in a school uniform, probably around the same age as him with short black hair and an athletic build that was a little on the short side. She had a purse slung over her shoulder and tapped away on her phone as she made her way through the crowd. God Hiro loved those things; they did half the job of distracting people without him having to lift a finger. All he had to do was stick close for a little bit to wait for the right moment and....

A business man walking quickly in the opposite direction gave him all the opportunity he needed here. With a quick step to the side, he subtly jostled a nearby woman, who in turn bumped into the girl and knocked her into the path of the businessman. The two collided and, unprepared for the sudden impact the girl started to fall backwards. Hiro stepped again and caught the girl from behind as she started to tip, looking down at her with a gentle smile as he helped steady her. The girl tilted her head back and looked up at him with surprise for a moment before returning a shy smile of her own and muttering her thanks. Pretty cute thing actually... that was a shame; he had already reached into her purse and extracted a few loose bills. With gentlemanly bow of his head, he let her go and parted ways, confident that when she discovered the missing cash she'd be more likely to blame the grumbling office worker than him.

So how much was that, 3000 Yen in a single pull? Certainly not a bad start, but he could do better than that. After maneuvering to a different section of the mall he started looking again and repeated the processes whenever an opportunity presented itself. Feigning a stumble to knock over a man's shopping bags and then scarfing something as he helped pick up the mess. Bumping a man to make him spill a drink on another and then helping himself to their bags while they argued. He was like an agent of chaos, reaping only small rewards from each incident he caused so that any suspicion towards him would be delayed in its onset until he was well gone.

In a relatively short amount of time he was able to gather up a decent haul, including a brand new pocket knife, some jewelry that he could pawn off later, and a small mass of money. It was probably enough to get him through the next week or two without much trouble, and he was just considering calling it quits when he felt someone bump him. If there was anyone that could tell a brush pass when he felt one, it was a thief, and yet the touch had been incredibly subtle. He might have actually dismissed it if the perpetrator didn't announce their presence to thoroughly afterword. Spinning toward the source of the tap, Hiro locked eyes with the soft-featured boy for a brief second as he slipped ahead into the crowd. He had split up his loot among several different pockets, as became habit when you often dealt with street thieves, but he didn't need to check his pockets to know that a sizable amount of the cash he picked up would be missing. That wasn't the point though. The look the kid gave him was one of challenge, plain and simple. He had to have been following for awhile now and watching, which meant...

Hiro grinned and immediately started into the crowd after his fellow thief. If the stranger wanted a bit of cat and mouse, the dark skinned street urchin was more than happy to oblige.

Hiro's eyes stayed firmly locked on the other boy as he darted to and fro amidst the sea of people in the mall plaza. In addition to the head start, the little guy had a bit of an advantage when it came to navigation as well, his smaller form allowing him to more easily squeeze through the gaps in the crowd. If the skill of the brush earlier wasn't already evidence enough, the way this little mouse was moving now seemed to suggest that he could have shaken Hiro at any time if he really wanted to... But he didn't want to, did he? No, he wanted to be followed, that was why he kept glancing back and taking detours to snag some extra loot. Yeah, he could see the casual way the kid was making his lifts even as he continued the chase. A bit ridiculous, but if his new acquaintance was going to have fun with this, surely they wouldn't mind if he did the same, right?

As the thief disappeared around another corner, Hiro darted off to the side and found a path of his own. He hopped up onto the arm of a bench, startling the occupant on the other side, and then sprang onto a short divider wall beyond. This he followed to the end before performing a dive roll over a fruit stand and then vaulting up onto a sideboard. The owner of the stand shouted and ducked from the shape flying past, too surprised to notice that a pair of apples had disappeared off the counter. From atop the sign, the rogue jumped and swung off a street lamp to round the corner, coming down on another waist-high wall as his eyes once again picked out his target in the crowd.

From there the chase progressed, the crowds gradually thinning and the pace increasing as it became rather obvious that the thief was leading them into far more secluded areas. That made sense, seeing as they were engaged in some rather questionable activities, but Hiro was still quite curious to find out what this kid wanted from him. He was almost disappointed then, when he rounded one last corner to the loading dock and saw that small figuring rushing him.

Almost.

On instinct, Hiro brought up his fists in a boxing stance and stepped to the side, leading the carbon bandage to wrap around one of his arms rather than his neck. As he felt the tug, the street urchin grinned wider and planted his feet firmly, pulling his arm back hard to drag the smaller kid in closer. It would be a bit of a shame if he'd been led on this merry chase just so that this guy could try to mug him, but if a scrap was what he was after then-

Hiro paused, his arm in the process of rearing back for a punch when the kid released the bindings and then moved to shove something in his pocket. Curious, he unclenched his fists and reached for the object. A phone, huh? Hiro hadn't had one in a good long while since he accidentally liquefied his, but they were easy enough to use. The message that displayed when he flicked on the screen made him cock an eyebrow. Interesting to say the least... So either this guy knew he couldn't talk, he had a similar problem of his own, or he was just weird. The fact that he'd apparently been watched for a few weeks lended credit to options one and three, though it was best not to rule anything out too quickly. He looked at the boy and gave a half-hearted shrug in reply to the first half of the message, then quickly tapped out a response to the rest before passing the phone back over.

"You're usually supposed to introduce yourself first, but whatever... Name's Hiro, and this sounds like the strangest job interview I've ever had. Any particular reason you've decided to volunteer as my stalker? I mean, you're cute and all, but I'm not really into that kind of kinky."

Now that was a reaction. Hiro couldn't help but smirk as he saw the boy's expression change and his face go a bit red. For someone that was apparently rather familiar with the underside of society, this guy had some pretty innocent responses to teasing. In Hiro's experience, that meant he probably wasn't that bad of a person. Catching the second phone that was tossed his way, the street urchin quickly swiped it open when it buzzed with a new message notification. So not only did this kid not talk, but he also carried around multiple phones to use... The theory that they just shared a similar malady was starting to look a bit more likely than the others. Convenient that, if only because it meant that he didn't have to deal with the usual ten rounds of charades to hold a conversation.

So, the kid's name was Asahi, and this was a job interview of sorts. It wasn't the first time someone approached him with some clearly shady dealings, though it had been quite awhile. Without the boss or the other Hawks around, people weren't exactly lining up to give a 16 year old kid work contracts. Of course, not all of that work had been particularly pleasant anyway, and at least this one was being pretty upfront about his intentions, pickpocketing chase not withstanding. "Don't worry cutie, I'm just messing with you. Anyway, I don't know about joining anything, 'specially with someone I just met, but if you're offering work then I guess I'm interested. Though I'd give you the fight even if I wasn't, haven't had a good brawl in weeks." Hiro typed out his message and then sliped the phone into his pocket as it sent. He used the motion to covertly retrieve some of the coins he carried, hiding some in each hand as he brought them together and cracked his knuckles.

With that bit of preparation done, Hiro slipped into his fighting stance and was about to wave Asahi on when the other kid immediately went into motion. Apparently they didn't have time for any extra theatrics right now. Once again the strips of cloth flew out toward him, but the young thief was prepared for them this time. Ducking and weaving to the side, he managed to avoid the one aimed at his neck and then reached out to snag the second with his dominant hand. Rather than immediately take the opportunity to try and counter however, Hiro continued his sideways movement to hop clear of Asahi's slide, waiting until the cloth in his hand started to go taut before giving a hard tug. If the motion succeeded in pulling the kid off balance, he'd take a step in close and try to throw a punch into his gut.

At the first sign of a stumble, Hiro darted toward Asahi and took a swing, but his fist didn't catch anything but air. You know, now that he actually took a second to think about it, that made a lot of sense. If someone with such a light build used grappling weapons, of course they'd be used to dealing with the more obvious counters, and it wasn't like his intentions would have been all that hard to read. Unfortunately, this revelation only came to the boy as the thief darted past him and he felt a light slap against the back of the head. It didn't even really hurt at all, but it was disorienting enough that Hiro wasn't able to get his guard back up and block the actual blow to his ribs.


Now it's not like the hit was really damaging, Hiro was used to taking a bit more punishment than that in a street fight, but the fact that the kid was able to land a hit at all once again reaffirmed the skill he was dealing with. Shrugging off the hit as best he could, the urchin saw that his opponent was again trying to create a bit of distance between them, and so immediately rushed after him. While he certainly had ways to fight at range, they were far less effective and frankly a lot less fun than an up close melee. As he drew close however, another swing became another whiff, with Asahi rapidly ascending out of the way and onto the top of a nearby streetlight.

Alright, he really needed a new plan... Obviously the full frontal approach wasn't working, so it was time to start busting out the tricks. Staring up at Asahi's perch, Hiro cocked his head for a moment as if confused on how to proceed. At the same time however, he sent out a pulse and began to go to work on the lamp post. At first the metallic structure just softened a bit, but just as the moment started to drag on, an entire section of it simultaneously turned to liquid and everything above immediately came toppling down. Hiro was standing in the perfect spot to intercept his foe as the structure fell, but rather than just waiting for the opportunity to come to him, he struck out with the coins that he'd been concealing. With the slightest touch from his quirk, the hail of loose change he let fly turned into something a bit more dangerous, the metal turning to liquid just long enough for air resistance and momentum to reshape the coins into what was effectively a cloud of jagged shrapnel. Hopefully that would keep the kid's attention long enough for the distance to close, and allow Hiro to finally close in and land a solid punch.

So that's what this kid was about, huh? As Hiro's coins drew close, an extra appendage burst out of Asahi's back and shielded him from the assault. It looked like some sort of claw... tentacle... Thing. Well, alright then. Although the kid seemed perfectly able to block with the limb, it had never actually been Hiro's aim to damage with his coins. Just as they were about to hit, he liquefied them and quickly solidified them again after they made contact, leaving the metal to cling to his opponent rather than bounce off. Maybe the little extra weight would throw him off, but the real point of the maneuver is that it gave his quirk something to ping off of, make it easier to keep track of his opponent.

Regardless of the extra muscle, when Asahi came down Hiro took aim and threw his fist for the kid's gut... only to meet a wall of muscle as another tendril appeared. So he had more than one then? Alright, makes sense. Question is, how many did he have? Two? Four? Six? Twenty? Now that was an interesting mental picture... Before Hiro could follow up with another strike, the tendril swung outward, catching his arms as he managed to brace at the last moment. By the way, forget everything he'd thought earlier about how this kid couldn't through a punch, because damn did that one sting. In an instant he was sent hurtling backwards, swatted away like an annoying fly. Luckily he felt something from behind ping against his quirk as he flew, and instinctively sent out a pulse. The old forklift his body found shifted only slightly as he slammed into it, the metal changed to a semi-solid with the consistency of foam in order to soften his impact.

With a shake of his head, Hiro attempted to clear the light daze the blow had left him with, and then looked to see his foe charging once again. Those extra limbs seemed to be able to hit harder and faster than anything Asahi was capable of normally... Well, he could certainly account for that that now that he knew about it. Firing the other kid an amused look as he move to attack, Hiro calmly leaned back against the forklift until the last second before simply allowing himself to slip backwards into the metal. His body disappeared for a brief second into the liquefied chassis, only for a pair of metal coated hands to reach out and try to pull the striking tendrils into vehicle. If successful, he'd resolidfy the structure around them, hopefully locking them in place while he slipped out in front of Asahi, his body completely coated in a sheen of steel. Not wasting a moment of momentum, the thug would meet his opponent's charge with one of his own, dropping a shoulder and throwing his metal-augmented weight into a bull charge.

You know, Hiro had always thought he was pretty agile for his size, the average person had a hell of a time keeping with him on most days, especially in an urban environment, but this Asahi kid apparently had him beat. Even as he emerged from the remains of the forklift, his opponent was already freeing himself from the mass of metal by reshaping his extra limbs... which he could apparently do. Damn things seemed pretty useful to Hiro, an observation that was only reinforced as Asahi launched himself up and over the thug's head. He immediately attempted to stop his charge and turn around, but the extra weight of the armor made the endeavor a bit more difficult. By the time he managed to skid to a halt, he spun around to see the smaller thief smacking the forklift pile away. He braced himself in preparation to dive back into the fight, but it seemed that the kid had other ideas.

At the buzz in his pocket, Hiro went to retrieve the phone Asahi had given him, which... was actually a rather involved process in his current state. This method of communication really wasn't very conducive to his fighting style. After clearing his hands and pockets of metal, he pulled out the device, thankful that he hadn't accidentally fried it yet. If he'd decided to put it in his back pocket before the fight, it definitely would have been dead already. The message he saw made him raise an eyebrow beneath the metal mask that had formed over his face. "A bit odd to offer suggestions when you don't know what someone is capable of, isn't it?" That being said, he wasn't entirely wrong. While this sort of armor would stop most people in their tracks, Asahi had already provided plenty of evidence that his quirk was more than capable of delivering a hit. The relatively thin layer of metal wouldn't do anything against a direct hit, and although it could potentially help with a glancing blow, the loss of mobility probably wasn't quite worth it. After a moment's consideration, he pulsed his quirk and turned the shell to liquid, letting most of it drip away but collecting a decent amount of material to form a thick set of bracers around his arms and shins. The compromise would give him back some of his speed, but also give him some extra options in the fight.

Satisfied with the change, Hiro started to put the phone away and shift back into his boxing stance, but when he returned his gaze to his new acquaintance he noticed something that he hadn't seen during their fight. Well, that answered at least one of the questions he'd had. "You too, huh?" He flipped the phone up and typed out before reaching for the bandanna around his neck and pulling it down to reveal his skin. Whereas Asahi had a scar from a single cut across his throat, both Hiro's neck and the entire upper half of his torso were peppered with shrapnel scars. Maybe not the exact same injury, but at the end of the day it was close enough. "Not gonna lie, I thought you were just fucking with me at first, but I guess its nice know there's at least one other person in this city who know just how much this sucks."