A job.

Tomorrow's problems have arrived, and he wished yesterday him had took care of it. Now he was stuck with yesterday's problems.

He silently cursed himself and opened the newspaper he received from the old man yesterday. He turned to the page where it listed job ads and perused through it. It seemed that each ads had some underlying push factor which made Rui not want the job, whether it be the pay, the requirements, or the downright shady nature of the job.

One of them said to send a duffel bag overseas regularly and receive 400000 yen a month.

He kept at it until the clock striked 9. The clock reminded him that he had promised the old couple he'll have breakfast with them.

They were very nice people, maybe because they didn't have anybody else but themselves. Because of that, he was guilt tripped into spending time with them.

He put on a coat and went down. There were no lifts so he had took the stairs. Maybe that's why there were barely any tenants.

He opened the ajar door at the receptionist center and saw the old lady at the stove. He greeted her and took a seat. She was preparing the typical Japanese breakfast, rice, miso soup, and pickles.

He took a sniff and moaned in delight. "This smells really good!"

"Thank you. I hope this is enough for you. You look like a growing boy!"

The truth is it was not enough. Not nearly. She was right in saying he was a growing boy and that he needed a lot more calories than that.

But he saw how indigent they were and did not want to make them feel sad about their efforts.

"This is more than enough for me, aunty."

He munched and munched on the breakfast while conversing with the old lady. The conversations were basically ice breakers. He figure if he was going to spend a lot of time with her, he might as well get to know her well.

Finally, the husband came and greeted Rui.

The three of them sat down at the table and ate their breakfast while enjoying each other's company. Laughs and giggles were thrown around the table when Rui told an old joke.

"What type of food do they serve at furniture stores?"

The table went silent, as they were thinking of an answer. They shrugged their shoulder moments later.

"Couch potato!"

The table enjoyed more moments until Rui asked a question.

"So, its just you two here?"

"Well, it used to be three."

"Your child?"

"Yes, but he's no longer here."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No worries, you didn't know. You actually remind me of him in some way."

"Really? I guess it's good to resemble a child of such amazing parents."

They shrugged off the compliment.

"No, we don't consider ourselves good parents. It's because of us he became the person he is today."

Rui really wanted to know more, but did not want to intrude into territory he didn't belong in yet.

"Well, I think you are good parents. No worries, let's eat!"

————————————

Rui stole again from convenience stores. He was really hungry and despite how delicious the breakfast was, its portion was very little.

He stole from multiple convenience stores so as to minimize the losses from a single store. He stole cup noodles, bread, sweets, and chocolates to satisfy his grumbling stomach.

But when he went to another store – his last one for the day – he came across a robbery.

It was a group of mask-wearing individuals who carried an entire cashier and was running for a white van.

Rui sighed. It was another group of villains he had to take down because there were no heroes around.

He sprinted after the van at the same speed and was catching up quite well despite it going over 80km an hour. The ones inside the van had no idea they were being chased by a literal monster as they were cackling all the while.

"More money! More money! HAHAHA!" the one holding the cashier laughed.

They took a sharp turn into an alley and almost hit a pedestrian.

'Tsk. Reckless.'

Rui followed them into the alley and scaled the walls to wait on the roof.

One by one, they exited the van, looking left and right to ensure they weren't being followed. Once they were sure they weren't being followed, they entered a door placed on the inner side of the alley. The room inside was dark so Rui couldn't see what was going on inside.

He leapt off and followed them into the room. Now, lights are on and he saw the group huddling in front of a large monitor. On the monitor, it was split into four screens. Two screens are off while the other two displayed some sort of map using a green scanner whereas the other one was of the news.

"The bandit group, Red Flower, had committed another robbery yet again. The event took place just moments ago at a convenient store this time…"

The members erupted into cheers at the mention of their crime, as if it were an accomplishment.

'Hmm. I guess I can take their money… and use it to pay off my rent!'

The idea suddenly flew into his head. He wouldn't need to find a job. He'll just do what he's best at, fighting!

Rui sprung into action and immediately took the members by surprise. He didn't need to kill them this time as it was just a petty crime.

He took the cashier away from the group like a hero. But unlike a hero, he didn't return it to the store. This way of obtaining money was substantial as he could continue taking down criminals and villains while being self-sufficient financially.

He felt proud of himself when he figure out a way to pay the rent like this. Plus depending on the money in the cashier, he may only have to do this once a week. It was way better than a job!

Granted, cashiers in turn have to lose a lot of money. That was the only thing he regretted.

"Due to being subject to robbery, the store is entitled to financial compensation to restore back their lost money." The news reporter continued their report.

Now he felt less guilty.