Word on the Street

(A/N: Not gonna lie, I'm quite excited about the upcoming chapters ahead. Though I don't wanna give away too much, expect the introduction of a long cat-and-mouse game between Kramer and a certain lie-detecting detective!)

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[1 Week Later]

[Narrator's POV]

A total of four men could be seen messing about in an abandoned building. The scent of booze and dust filled the air as one of them kicked an empty can across from the metal barrels they sat upon, watching the can bounce along the concrete floor before coming to a halt.

"So anyways," one of the men said to the other three, "I started blastin' 'em with my quirk. The homeless guy went flying and tumbled into some trash! Easy money, right there, haha!" The others laughed like a pack of hyenas as the beer they drank flowed through their systems, putting them on cloud nine.

"But how about you, man?" the person who just finished telling his story gestured to the guy on his right, beer can in hand, who was easily larger compared to the scrawny man. "Eh," the big guy spoke, "the past few weeks were certainly not as eventful…" he trailed off before puffing out some smoke from the cigarette he held.

"I mean I did mess around with a few harlots on the street-" the big guy was quickly interrupted by his lightly drunk friends, who all collectively gave out an 'ohhhhh' sound, one of them even doing the famous cat-calling whistle.

"It's not what y'all even think," he began. "They were surprisingly ugly. So I just took their cash and used that to buy myself a couple of burgers down the street from here." The big guy shrugged before taking another huff of his cigarette and drinking some more beer.

"Not even a burger… for me?" chimed in another. "You know how… the double All Might Whopper (with no pickles) is my favourite…" he made sure to trail off at the end to act like he was hurt, or perhaps it was the fact that he, out of the four people in the abandoned building, was extremely drunk compared to everyone else.

"If anything I owe the boss a burger," replied the big man before the individual who beat up a homeless guy spoke. "I've been meaning to ask yah, but have you seen Yuki this week?"

The big man pondered for a brief moment as he saw his extremely drunk friend pass out in front of him, slouched over the cement floor while still clutching a can of booze. But it was the fourth person in the room who first responded to the question. 

"Yuki boss, hmmmmm," he hummed as he stroked his chin in deep thought. "Having to think about it now, I have not heard from him since a week ago. He told us that he robbed a store, stole a couple of purses here and there, and I think shoplifted a handful of shirts. But that was roughly 9 days ago."

The three small-time criminals sat in momentary silence with one another before it was broken by the abrupt and sudden opening of a door creaking open as if it were on its last hinges. The three of them turned to face the person before one of them scoffed.

"Speak of the devil," said the guy who robbed a homeless man. The person who opened the door was none other than their boss, Shinohara Yuki. However, despite the three of them being drunk (with one passed out), they took immediate notice of the medical gauze around his face as he limped towards the group of drunkard criminals.

"Holy shit," the big guy called out in a low, yet shocked tone. "Did All Might put you in the ICU or what?" although he asked rhetorically, considering he'd never seen his boss in such a state, if Yuki responded with a 'yes' he wouldn't have doubted him.

"Much worse, Tsuneo," the Jigsaw victim replied to the big guy, now identified as Tsuneo, in a low, defeated, and tired voice. "Whenever Shuji wakes up from being blackout drunk, tell him that I quit." Yuki's words struck his companions like an iron on heated metal.

"Quit?" they all said in unison. "You're joking, right? Is it because of whoever made you put all that gauze covering most of your face? I'm confident that all of us here can beat that guy up. What's his quirk?" though Tsuneo asked a barrage of questions, they fell on deaf ears.

"Doesn't matter," Yuki shrugged, kicking an empty beer can across the floor. "I'm done, and I advise you guys to do the same." The homeless beater was quick to retort their boss's words. "You're speaking a whole lotta nothing, boss. Seriously, what happened?"

Yuki sighed, recalling the events he experienced only a week ago. "Some monstrous stuff, Kenji. Stuff that made me rethink about me continuing this type of life." the homeless beater, now known as Kenji, could only scoff.

The third individual interjected. "Tell us," he nagged, fed up with the ambiguity of his boss's words. "It's almost like you're afraid to speak your mind. You can't just say what you said and leave us with nothing but our thoughts, right? We're here for you man!"

Yuki could only look down at the concrete floor before nodding his head in agreement.

"You're right, Kyo, you're right…" he took a deep breath in and breathed out heavily before speaking once more. "I don't even know how it all started… at one moment I was just chillin' and then suddenly I felt someone inject me with something behind me. It was all a blur, until…" Yuki trailed off for a moment before talking again.

"Until I woke up, strapped to some chair where these knives were digging into my arms and legs," the Jigsaw victim gestured to the injuries on his arms and legs, now wrapped in white gauze. "And there was this guy… he called himself 'The Jigsaw,' but he said that I could either bleed out… or escape by pushing my face onto all these knives in front of my face…"

Yuki's voice was burdened with nothing but horror as he recalled the events to his cronies. "I don't want to talk about it too much, but I did what I had to do to live. He patched me up, said a couple of things, and left me there with nothing but my thoughts and his words echoing in my mind…"

His fingers jittered with each word that came out of his mouth, as the Kyo, Tsuneo, and Kenji could only listen with disbelief marked on their faces. Their boss was easily the strongest out of the group. Not just physically, but also mentally. Witnessing his voice quiver with each word was akin to seeing hell freeze over.

It was one thing if a Pro-Hero fought with their boss, but what Yuki described to them was nothing but sinister. "You were tortured…" Kenji muttered under his breath heavily. "I don't even know how the guy knew about me, but I'm confident that if he did, he knows about you guys too. But… he brought up some insightful things that I'm still processing right now. I just… wanted to tell you guys. I didn't want to leave y'all wondering where I went and shit."

Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. Yuki stayed with the gang for a little longer, talking about miscellaneous things before he left the same way he entered as the rest of them packed their booze and woke up the fourth member, filling him in on what he missed.

With the conversation still heavy on their minds and the sun slowly setting, they all went their separate ways, leaving the abandoned warehouse and empty beer cans to collect dust.

[Scene Change]

[1 Week Later]

A man could be seen lying on top of a roof, staring at the night sky. The moon illuminated the mask he wore that completely covered his face as his lengthy ponytail was sprawled across the floor. He hummed as he chucked one of his knives in the air, catching it by its handle before throwing it back upwards, repeating the cycle.

"Those small-time thugs ceased their criminal activity," he muttered to himself. "Did they know I was going to ki- no… that's not it. Their boss offhandedly mentioned something about a guy named Jigsaw… is he another vigilante like me? Maybe I should visit him…"

(A/N: A little bit of a shorter chapter just to showcase the effects the SAW trap had on the robber and hint at some future subplots. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!)