Chapter 1 (Vigilantes)

I Am Here (俺がいる) is the first chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals.

Summary
Heroes are people with Quirks who are authorized to protect society. However, there are certain Heroes who protect society independently.

A giant monster is terrorizing the city. Suddenly, All Might appears and defeats the monster with ease. The public are awed at All Might's strength. Seeing that everyone is unharmed, All Might takes his leave. A person in the crowd, Haimawari Kouichi who is a male of 19 years of age, is inspired by Heroes like All Might. Haimawari touches the ground in order to use his Quirk, Sliding. Sliding allows Haimawari to slide on the ground; the speed of his sliding is as fast as a bike. However, a Police officer stops Hamawari. The Police officer berates Haimawari for using his Quirk when public usage of Quirks is forbidden, and tells him that since everyone has different Quirks, using Quirks in public is forbidden in order for everyone to live well with each other. After the Police officer leaves, Hamawari runs towards his next destination and is annoyed that he must follow the rule of unable to use Quirks in public.

Hamawari runs into a group of thugs and knocks into one of the thugs, which spills the juice he just brought. The thug orders Haimawari to apologize by getting down and groveling. The thugs prepare to step on Haimawari, but Hamawari slides backwards which surprises the thug. Haimawari slides away, which allows him to escape from the group of thugs.

Haimawari sees another group praising a freelance idol, Pop Step. Haimawari notes that Pop Step is taking a big risk in being a freelance idol since she doesn't have a permit. Despite her songs not being great, the aspect that stands out is her ability to fly which is what attracts some people to become her fans. A police vehicle is passing by, causing Haimawari to warn Pop Step. Pop Step decides to end her live performance, and flies away while Haimawari prepares to slide to his place of work.

Haimawari works at a convenience store; the manage isn't pleased with Haimawari being late and deducts his pay. Customers arrive, however, it is the same group of thugs that Haimawari encountered earlier on. The leader of the thugs becomes angry at seeing Haimawari again and takes him outside. The leader beats Haimawari up; Haimawari isn't able to fight back because the thug leader uses a Quirk called Spikes which creates sharp spikes from his knuckles. After being forced to buy a juice for the thug leader, Haimawari is annoyed at being beaten up. Haimawari changes into his "suit" which is an All Might styled jacket with a hood and wears a mouth mask. Haimawari decides to deliver justice on his own accord without being bogged down by the law.

Haimawari starts doing good deeds for the public such as returning dropped items, giving directions, helping people get onto trains, being a cameraman and recycling. The citizens thank Haimawari and refer to him as Gentle-Man. Haimawari feels overjoyed in helping people as it relieves him of stress and makes him feel warm inside. With his good deeds done for the day, Haimawari begins walking home. Suddenly, a person gives Haimawari juice to drink. The person giving him the juice is Pop Step. Pop Step thanks Haimawari for warning her about the Police and followed him in order to properly thank him, but mocks Haimawari for being weak, to which Haimawari defends himself as being poor at dealing with violence.

Pop Step finds it ironic that Haimawari is wearing an All Might hoodie, but is bad at fighting. Haimawari wears the All Might hoodie because it symbolizes his ideal in being useful in his own way. After they scrutinize each other for their objectives, Pop Step begins leaving but bumps into the same thug leader Haimawari got beaten up by. The thugs recognize her as the online idol and begin mocking her. Haimawari tries to stop them, but the thugs ignore him. Haimawari sees tears in Pop Step's eyes and cannot ignore her plea for help. Haimawari theoretically wonders how he can handle the situation; use his Sliding Quirk to trip two of the thugs and take out the leader by tackling him so that Pop Step can fly away.

Haimawari decides to put his plan into motion. Haimawari uses his sliding Quirk and tries tripping one of the thugs over, but fails. The thug throws Haimawari to the ground. The thugs turn their attention to Haimawari and the leader scratches Haimawari's face with spikes from his foot. The thug leader decides to finish off Haimawari for annoying him and strip down Pop Step.

As the thug leader prepares to strike Haimawari with his spikes, someone crashes down onto the trash which stops the thug leader's attempted murder. The person gets up from the trash heap, revealing to be a muscular old man as the thug leader wonders what is going on. Suddenly, the old man punches the thug leader which knocks him down to the ground, surprising Haimawari. The other two thugs are shocked at what transpired and ask for the old man's motivations.

The old man tells the thugs that he is called Knuckleduster and specializes in dealing with hoodlums. Knuckeduster defeats the two thugs and checks their tongues as he is looking for a new dangerous type of drug. Knuckleduster turns his attention to Haimawari and praises him for his efforts, telling him that he can become a real Hero if he works with him.Haimawari shows no interest, but Knuckleduster can see through his lies and knows he is someone who can't abandon people in need like All Might. Haimawari admits that his Quirk isn't useful and could never pass the Pro Hero Exam. Knuckleduster doesn't care about whether Haimawari has a powerful Quirk or license because they have absolutely nothing to do with justice. Knuckleduster believes that true Heroes take action when something rises up before them. Haimawari realizes that Knuckleduster is unlicensed.

Suddenly, the thug leader gets up and takes Pop Step hostage. The thug leader threatens to claw Pop Step's face off with his spikes. Unable to let him get away with his atrocious act, Haimawari charges at the thug leader and knocks him down, allowing Pop Step to fly above for safety. Knuckleduster punches the thug leader into the wall which knocks him out. Knuckleduster sees that the thug leader isn't in procession of the new type of drug he is looking for and makes a copy of his ID. Knuckleduster informs Haimawari that there are more ways to be a Hero than what the world says; Knuckleduster is a Hero because punishing evildoers is refreshing. However, Haimawari finds Knuckleduster to be dangerous and isn't sure about joining him.

Later on, the thugs walk in an alley and are badly injured courtesy of Knuckeduster. The thug leader is annoyed and angry, promising to kill Haimawari and Knuckleduster next time, although one of the thugs suggests not to get involved with them. Out of nowhere, a man in a suit appears before the thugs and offers them "splendid" medicines.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Gentle-Man
 * Pop Step
 * Knuckleduster