The Boy Who Wont Forget

Ren pounded down the narrow alley, his feet slapping cold pavement. His legs ached, the fall from the window still sending sharp pains through his knees, but he didn't stop. His breath fogged in the cool night air as he ducked under a rusted fire escape and paused for a moment to listen.

Footsteps. Shouts. They weren't far behind.

"Damn it," Ren hissed under his breath, the sweat and blood off his face smeared across his sleeve as he wiped his face. His small body leaned against the brick wall for support as he scanned his surroundings in an instant. The alleyway branched out ahead into two paths: one to the street and another deeper into the maze of back alleys.

No time to think. Move.

He veered left, into the maze of backstreets. Garbage bags and broken crates littered the ground, but Ren weaved his way through, his mind racing as fast as his feet. He didn't feel guilt for killing that man back in the apartment-he couldn't afford to. His past life had taught him one thing: survival always comes first.

If I hadn't done that, he would have killed me. It came down to that simple calculation, and Ren was not going to waste time mulling it over. The present mattered: reinforcing. Smallness and keen senses gave him a leg up in this department, but the things wouldn't go down easy.

The next turn he took, he practically ran into a metal fence blocking the alley. His eyes widened. Great. He reached for the chain-link and started climbing, trying to disregard the pain in his legs. His fingers slipped on the cold metal, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through.

Now he was over, swung over and immediately heard them hollering in closing behind him. Dropping on the other side of the fence, it rattled awkwardly onto one foot. Wincing but unable to pause in recovery, he limped along looking for the street and scanning them for a place of refuge.

A bus stop, an abandoned building—anything.

There, his eyes caught a narrow slit between two buildings-no larger than what would allow him to squeeze through. He darted toward it without a moment's hesitation, wedging himself into the narrow space. The brick scraped his shoulders, and his breathing came in shallow gasps, but he held perfectly still, listening.

The footsteps thundered past, voices growing more indistinct with every second that the men traveled further down the alley. After a moment longer, even the sound of their pursuit disappeared altogether. Still jammed against cold wall, slowly he exhaled; his shoulders fell, and all adrenaline disappeared. His body shook with the exertion while his ache in his legs was sharp. At least, for now, he was safe.

He wasn't out of this yet, he reminded himself. He leaned against the wall, catching his breath as he overviewed the dimly lit street. He needed a plan, and fast.

Ren's mind ran through the permutations; he was unable to head back to his apartment, at any rate-nothing was there for him there but a dead man and bloody floors. The Shie Hassaikai would hunt him down, for sure, not one of the groups that left any kind of witness free to walk.

His fists clenched as he struggled to catch his breath. Think, Ren. His memories of this world weren't perfect, but they were enough to give him an edge. He knew about quirks, pro heroes, villains, and the organizations lurking in the shadows. What he didn't know was just how deep he'd already fallen into trouble-or how far Overhaul's influence stretched in this part of the city.

"Don't matter," he growled, pushing away from the wall. "Can sort it out later. What I gotta do right now is disappear."

He hobbled back toward the main road, trying to keep out of the light as much as possible. His scrawny build and disheveled state helped him blend in with the late-night crowd, but he knew that wouldn't last forever. The Shie Hassaikai had resources, and they'd track him down eventually if he didn't find a place to hide.

That was when he saw it-a rundown convenience store with neon lights flickering in the window. He ducked inside, and the bell above the door jangled softly. The cashier, bored, barely glanced at him as he slipped by the shelves to the back of the store to catch his breath and think.

He yanked a bottle of water from the shelf and, with hands that shook all over the place, twisted off the cap. The coldness seared down his throat but served to clear his head. His thoughts tumbled, but eventually, in order, each fell into its correct place within the jigsaw puzzle.

Step one: hide. Step two: figure out who to trust. Step three: figure out what to do next.

The buzzing in the back of his mind, though, was very slight and seemed to remind him that there was some sort of system interface, but really-he wasn't prepared for diving into all that right now. One priority-survive.

The night was still far from over, Ren thought, standing there, cloaked under the darkness of the convenience store. This was just a chase that had gotten started, and the city had dark nooks filled with things he could only imagine. For now, though, in this short span of time, he got a break to compose himself and get ready for what was to come.

But even as he tried to calm his racing heart, Ren couldn't shake the feeling that the worst was yet to come. The Shie Hassaikai were relentless, and their reach extended far beyond what he could comprehend. Every shadow seemed to whisper danger, every sound carried the threat of discovery.

Still, Ren knew he couldn't afford to panic. So far, his instincts had gotten him through the worst of his life, and those instincts screamed at him now to keep on moving. Keep on surviving.

For now, he would have to take things one step at a time.