Winds of Destiny: Rising
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Atonement
Misaki stood just outside the walkthrough closet in her bedroom, watching Hawks fasten the buttons on the cuffs of his white dress shirt. She couldn't help thinking that he looked incredibly different without the impressive wings that usually adorned his back. He looked so much younger to her now, with his cut locks and hairless chin, not to mention the absence of the earrings he always wore beneath his headphones. But it was all in physical appearance only. Inside, he seemed to have gained some level of personal insight. Whether that was a good thing or not, she had yet to determine. They hadn't had an opportunity to speak any more after she'd given him an overview of the villain activity forecasting program she'd designed.
"What's wrong?" Hawks's voice suddenly asked, startling her a bit and she noticed that he had turned toward her at some point while she'd been lost in her musings.
"Nothing," she said as she smiled and shook her head, walking up to him and reaching out to begin tying the thin, black tie that was hanging around his neck. "The last time I saw you in a suit I was taking it off of you."
He smirked down at her and sarcastically quipped, "Nice try."
While she'd been showing him the software, he'd told her about the press conference he'd called to address the claims Dabi had made in his broadcast. She hadn't asked about the validity of the villain's claims about Endeavor, and she was already aware of the facts that comprised the claims about Hawks. She didn't have to ask, because she already knew what he was going to tell them: the truth. Now that he was no longer tied down by the Safety Commission's agenda, there was no reason for him to deny the truth about where he'd come from. That wasn't who he was anymore. Not the son of a murdering thief and a neglectful mother, not the Safety Commission's loyal servant, chasing after a righteous ideal but always with one wing dipped in blood. Not Keigo and not Hawks, but some combination of both. However, she doubted very many people would see that the way she did.
"I understand why you're holding this press conference," she told him with some reluctance before glancing up at him with a slight pout. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."
He stared evenly into her eyes and conceded, "No, you don't."
She finished tying his tie and helped him slip on his jacket. Jeanist had graciously brought the tailored suit over with him, but he'd elected to wait downstairs while they finished getting ready. The fit was a bit snug around his wings, but as they were still wrapped up and healing from taking the brunt of the burning, Jeanist hadn't felt the need to leave any holes in the fabric for them. She knew from redressing his wounds after he'd passed out on her in the living room last night that they were still in pretty rough shape. Normally it only took a few days for his feathers to fill back in when he lost them, but it had almost been three now since the battle at the villa and they were still barely more than stumps between his shoulder blades. He turned back around to face her, and she reached out to fix his collar before gently running her fingers over the scar on the left side of his neck as she pulled away.
"Does it bother you?" He asked, carefully watching her face to try and read her feelings; she recognized the look.
She smiled at him and softly shook her head, looking him in the eye as she told him, "Not at all. It actually gives your baby face a bit of an edge now that all of your facial hair is gone." Glancing up at his hair with a skeptical smirk, she said, "That haircut isn't doing you any favors either though."
He winced and reached up to run a hand through his shorter locks. "Jeanist-san tried to fix all the burned parts. It looks a little weird, huh?"
She chuckled a bit under her breath, reaching up to run her fingers through his shorter locks as she said, "I kinda like it. Besides, it's just hair, it'll grow back." Wrapping her arms around his back, she laid her hands over the stubs of his wings and said, "Just like these will, eventually."
He stared down into her eyes for a moment before lifting his hands to gently cup her face and dipping his head to press his lips to hers. She reached up to wrap her hands around his wrists and pulled his hands away from her face, softly breaking the kiss before they could get too carried away and telling him, "We have to go."
"I know," he dejectedly sighed.
She stepped back out of his personal space, keeping ahold of one of his hands as she turned to make her way out of the bedroom and offering him a small regretful smile over her shoulder before letting it go. They didn't have time to explore that particular level of whatever their current relationship was turning into. It was kinda hard not to get the impression that he was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her again, considering the way he'd been gazing at her and kissing her throughout the morning. She wasn't exactly sure how that was going to work though, given everything that was going on in society at the moment. But even if it didn't happen right away, she was still excited about the possibility of being able to start over; of getting to know the only person she had ever considered spending the rest of her life with and falling in love with him all over again.
He followed her into the entryway where they both slipped on their shoes and he helped her into her coat. Stepping out of the apartment, Misaki turned and closed the door behind her before locking it and heading down the hall to the elevator. As they stepped out the front doors of the building, they were greeted by the sight of Best Jeanist in a high-necked suit and leaning back against a sleek black sports car with his arms crossed. The tall hero nodded to the two of them and Misaki returned the gesture as he opened the car door for her to slide into the back seat, followed shortly by Hawks. Jeanist shut the door behind them and walked back around to slip into his own seat, quickly starting the car before pulling away from the curb and driving off down the mostly empty street.
It was almost unnerving how quiet everything was in Shinjuku for a weekday morning.
She turned her attention back to her immediate surroundings when she heard Hawks address the occupants in the front of the vehicle. "Thanks for stopping by to pick us up."
"It was no trouble," the familiar voice of Endeavor answered.
Hawks turned toward her and asked, "Misa-chan, have you and Endeavor-san met?"
"Once or twice, while I was the President's secretary," Misaki told him before turning to address Endeavor. "I usually worked with your sidekicks when coordinating things with your office though."
"I remember you. I wasn't aware that you and Hawks were…" He trailed off as if he was looking for the right word before finally settling on, "Close."
"Oh, um, actually, we're—" Hawks's hand came to rest over hers, halting her stuttering reply, and she glanced over into his calm, golden eyes.
He held her stare for a second before turning his head back toward the front and replying to Endeavor. "There were a lot of things about myself that I kept out of the public eye over the years. My personal relationships were chief among them."
"Unless you're planning on getting married, it's not really anyone's business," Endeavor responded in a concise, matter-of-fact tone.
She could see Jeanist shoot Endeavor a tense glance in the rearview mirror from the corner of his widened eye and she widened her own eyes in shock at the sudden statement. Hawks just dropped his gaze into his lap and responded in a somewhat cynical tone of voice, "If that was even possible, I still probably would have tried to keep it under the radar."
Misaki turned her head down and dropped her own eyes into her lap. She understood what he meant, but it still stung a little to hear the words from his own mouth. He'd never even considered the possibility of marriage. It didn't have anything to do with her, it was more a problem of logistics. Putting aside the issue of his lack of a family register, he didn't even have a legal name to put on one. His parents had never reported his birth, and the Safety Commission had elected to leave it that way. It was kind of hard to marry someone who didn't legally exist.
Endeavor's uncharacteristically mellow voice sounded out from the front seat. "That's all behind you now."
The hand that was resting over hers gently closed around her fingers and she lifted her eyes to gaze into Hawks's even and unguarded stare. He smiled at her softly as he said, "You're right."
Returning his smile, she turned her hand over beneath his and laced their fingers together. Ever since she was a little girl, when she'd imagined what her ideal future looked like, she was always happily married with smiling, carefree children surrounding her. Even as she'd grown older and more mature, her vision of her future family remained unchanged. But it wasn't the actual institution of marriage that was important to her, it was the companionship. Being able to share her life with someone she loved and trusted, and who loved and trusted her in return. As long as their family was safe and happy, that was all that really mattered to her. She would much rather live a happily unmarried life with Hawks, than an unhappy married life with anyone else.
Due to the lack of traffic, it didn't take them long at all to arrive at the front gate of the Kantei, the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Best Jeanist pulled up to the front of the building after easily making his way past the guard station and through the front gate with a simple nod to the security officer stationed there. Jeanist promptly exited the vehicle and opened the back door for Misaki to follow suit. Hawks was already standing waiting for her and she graciously took his offered hand, letting him draw her out of the back seat and shooting him a grateful smile. Jeanist carefully shut the door behind her before tossing the keys to the valet waiting out front. The kid stared at the hero vehicle like it was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen before hurriedly climbing into the driver's seat and quickly speeding off toward the parking garage.
As they entered the building, they came upon a long metal desk with a single guard seated behind it, who looked up as they approached and politely asked, "How may I help you?"
Misaki stepped forward and introduced herself. "My name is Torimodo Misaki. I'm scheduled to attend a meeting with the Prime Minister today."
She pulled her ID out of her coat pocket and held it out to the man. He carefully glanced between her face and her ID before reaching into a drawer and removing a badge and a lanyard. Holding them out to her along with her ID, he instructed her to head to the west staircase and directed her how to find the Prime Minister's office once she arrived on the correct floor.
She thanked him for his assistance before tentatively inquiring, "There should be three others listed with me as well."
He followed her gesture to the three heroes standing behind her with his eyes before glancing back at her and shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I only have your name on the list."
Sighing dejectedly, she pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and asked the officer, "Can you give me just a moment?"
He nodded to her and she bowed her head to him apologetically before stepping a few paces away. She quickly navigated to Hebisawa Shira's number in her phone and initiated a call, holding the device up to her ear as she waited for it to connect.
A second later, the councilwoman's familiar voice answered, "Hello?"
"Hebisawa-san? This is Torimodo Misaki," she hastily replied, relieved that the woman had immediately answered her call.
"Ah, Torimodo-san. We're almost ready for you. Have you arrived?" Shira graciously asked.
"Yes, but it appears that the security desk only has my name on the list," Misaki responded carefully, not wanting to come across like she was blaming the woman for their situation.
"Oh," her somewhat troubled sounding voice replied. "It appears that I forgot to inform them that you'd be having company. Well, no matter. I'll just call down and do it now."
Before she could thank the woman the line suddenly went dead. She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked down at it, blinking in shock a second before the phone behind the security desk began to ring. Turning her head in that direction, she watched as the officer quickly answered the call, giving a short affirmative response before hanging up. He looked up at her and gestured for her to come back. She hastily complied as the man prepared three more passes. She accepted them with a polite thank you and a short bow of her head before quickly walking back over to the others.
"I'm really sorry about all of this," she apologized again as they each took one of the passes she offered them.
"It's nothing to worry over," Best Jeanist replied, slipping the lanyard around his long neck. "Our attendance was unanticipated to begin with. If anything, we should be the ones apologizing for making trouble for you."
"It's no trouble," Misaki hastily assured him, waving her hands in front of her. "I'm just glad I was able to get it all sorted out. I'd hate to have dragged you guys all the way out here only for you not to be able to get in."
Talk about embarrassing… She was already feeling quite a bit of anxiety about presenting her program to the man who had just fired her, inviting the top three heroes to the meeting only to have them turned away at the door would only make her feel even worse about the whole situation.
"We would have figured something out. Don't worry about it," Hawks confidently told her with a reassuring smile.
She smiled back and nodded before tilting her head toward the wide stairway and saying, "We should probably head inside."
Jeanist led the way, with Hawks and Misaki keeping step a few paces behind, and Endeavor bringing up the rear. She glanced over her shoulder at the Number One Hero just in time to see him wince and clutch his left side. She stopped walking and turned around fully to quietly ask him, "Are you alright?"
He straightened almost immediately and nodded, gruffly telling her, "I'm fine," as he stoically stalked past her after the others.
She sighed in exasperation. 'Men…'
Heaven forbid they show any kind of weakness around others. Though in her experience, that was a trait that heroes in general seemed to share. She was well aware of the grievous injuries Endeavor had sustained during his battle with Shigaraki in Jaku. The man was lucky to be alive, let alone attending a meeting at the Prime Minister's residence just one day out of recovering from major surgery. She'd felt the same sort of exasperation after Hawks had passed out on her in her living room last night. Both of them were barely holding themselves together, with copious amounts of bandages, pain killers, and sheer stubborn willpower. If it hadn't been for the recovery-type quirks of Central Hospital's intensive care doctors, it was doubtful if either one of them would have been up and around at all.
Silently shaking her head, she followed after the group of heroes, ascending the stairs to the third floor where the Prime Minister's office was located. It wasn't her first time visiting the estate, having traveled with the President a few times when she'd attended meetings at the building. However, it was the first time she'd ever come in through the front door. They had typically arrived via helicopter; it was easier to avoid traffic that way. The meetings usually began in the early hours of the morning and ended right around lunchtime, both times of day when traffic was the busiest. It was a challenge to get anywhere in Tokyo by car with all of the foot traffic throughout the city.
As they walked through the open double doors into the Prime Minister's sprawling office, the squatty-looking man with a jovial orange face and eyes like a frog greeted her with a wide smile. "Ah! Misaki! Come in!"
She braced herself as the Prime Minister waddled over to her and grabbed her hand, shaking it very enthusiastically as he spoke. "No hard feelings about the termination, I hope? It all worked out for the best I think! Now that our Lady Shira has taken you under her wing." He winked a horizontal pupiled eye at her before a thoughtful look suddenly crossed his face. "Or should I call it scales?"
Misaki had learned early on that the Prime Minister was a very informal person in private. He often called people he liked by their given names, which had taken quite a bit of getting used to in the beginning. He'd become especially fond of her after she'd programmed his smartphone to only notify him of messages he'd flagged as important, writing a rule into his email app to categorize his messages by sender and adding priority levels to certain keywords. She'd seen him getting frustrated with the noise the device constantly made quite often, and she'd offered to help one day while they'd been on a break from a planning meeting. He'd been rather partial to her ever since.
She smiled back at him graciously. "I appreciate the opportunity to put my skills to good use in this trying time for our country."
The Prime Minister's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Oh! That's very good! Toshi, write that down!"
"Yes, Minister," the tall, slender man with scaly blue skin and impeccably coiffed teal hair standing to the right of the Prime Minister affirmed, quickly pulling a smartphone out of his jacket pocket and transcribing the quote into it as ordered.
The Prime Minister turned her gaze to the heroes standing behind her. "And you've brought along some rather illustrious guests with you, I see. What an unexpected delight."
She couldn't quite tell if he was being sarcastic or not, given his slightly clipped tone of voice. It was difficult to tell sometimes if he was just being professional or if he really disliked someone. Misaki was a little too preoccupied with trying to figure out why the man's aide seemed so familiar to her at the moment to really care all that much though.
All of a sudden it clicked for her and she asked the man, "Are you—? Fukahire-san?"
The man glanced up from the device in his hand and raised a manicured eyebrow in her direction. "Have we met?"
She shook her head and politely replied, "I'm sorry, we haven't, but I met your daughter at last year's Most Eligible Heroes Auction."
Recognition dawned across his face and his demeanor relaxed slightly. "I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Torimodo-san."
She returned his polite bow with one of her own. "Likewise. Is Aoi well?"
"Oh, yes. She's starting her third year of high school now. I'm having a bit of anxiety over the fact that she'll be an adult this year," he anxiously replied, pulling a rather worn-looking package of antacids out of his pocket and popping two of them into his mouth.
"She seems like the type to be able to do pretty well for herself," she said in an attempt to assuage the man's rampant nerves.
The agitated man nodded stiffly. "Yes, that's what I'm afraid of. It scares me to death to think that she might one day leave home and never come back."
Remembering the story Hawks had told her about their family's circumstances the night of the auction, Misaki replied in a sympathetic tone, "I'm sure she would never dream of abandoning you, Fukahire-san. You two are all each other have, right? I'm sure you'll stay close no matter how far apart you may be."
He appeared taken aback for a moment before his expression softened and he looked down at her with a small, grateful smile on his face. "That's very kind of you to say."
The balcony doors behind him opened and Hebisawa Shira strode through them into the office, smelling of the deodorizer Misaki recognized from the time she'd visited her in the hospital. Fukahire-san quickly excused himself just as Shira's sharp ruby gaze landed on Misaki.
"Oh good, you made it. The security desk didn't give you any more trouble I hope?" The woman said, walking over and smiling at her graciously.
Misaki shook her head. "No, it was fine. Thank you for handling everything so quickly. I'm sorry I sprung such an unreasonable request on you on such short notice."
Shira waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Nonsense. It was no trouble at all." She turned her attention to the heroes. "Best Jeanist, Hawks, it's very nice to see you again. And I believe this is the first time we are meeting, Endeavor."
Misaki didn't miss the sudden change in the intonation of Shira's voice as she addressed Endeavor, making her words come off sounding almost spiteful. If the hero noticed, he paid it no heed, nodding his head to the woman in acknowledgment of her greeting. She'd been noticing a trend of people acting particularly cold toward the man ever since they'd arrived at the building. Given the recent revelations that had come out regarding his troubled family situation, she supposed it wasn't all that surprising. Heroes were meant to be shining examples of honor and justice, at least so far as the industry's marketing had made them out to be over the years. Finding out that their Number One hero was possibly guilty of decades of domestic violence had been a devastating blow to the people's already shaky faith in the man.
Shira clapped her hands together and suggested, "Shall we all head into the conference room then?"
Eager to escape the awkward atmosphere and get her presentation over with, Misaki readily followed Shira's suggestion and headed for the conference room. Thankfully, they had already followed her instructions and hooked up a tablet to the large conference room television screen which had been loaded with the prototype app she'd emailed to Shira earlier that morning. She busied herself with setting up the test data program she'd prepared for the presentation as everyone else steadily began filing into the room behind her. She jumped when she felt two hands suddenly grasp her shoulders and she turned her head to look back at Hawks. He shot her a small grin and moved to slip her black dress coat off of her back. She smiled back at him in thanks and shrugged out of it, letting him take it from her and drape it over the back of the chair next to the one he ended up sitting in.
After everyone had finally taken their seats, the Prime Minister addressed her from the head of the table. "So then, Shira tells me that you've developed a way to predict villain attacks?"
"Um, well, I suppose that is one way to describe it." Dimming the lights, she pulled up the prototype tracking software on the screen and explained, "Using the algorithm I developed for the Hero Public Safety Commission as a base, I reworked the software to evaluate a villain's past crimes and forecast where they would be most likely to attack next." She zoomed in on one of the circled areas on the map. "Each location has a probability factor that will automatically adjust to given changes in certain variables."
"What kinds of variables?" The gruff voice of the Commissioner of the National Police Force spoke up from across the room.
"Potential team-ups with other villains, police and hero presence in or around the area." She focused in on one specific villain's zone. "In the case of villains prone to robbery, factors such as supply delivery schedules, weather, foot traffic in an area, all have the potential to make a target seem more appealing at any given time."
"So, you've worked out the where. What about the when?" Shira asked from her seat next to the Prime Minister.
Misaki grimaced. "That part has been giving me a little bit of trouble, but I'm close to working out the bugs in the math. Once I have that ironed out, all of the variables added into the probability factor for each location should indicate the prime time and place for a potential villain attack. A hero would then be dispatched to patrol the general area so that they would be able to more promptly respond should an attack take place."
"And what if your algorithm is wrong and the villain attacks somewhere else? We've dispatched a hero to an area where they weren't needed and left the area they are needed in vulnerable," the Police Commissioner asked.
Misaki sighed. "That's why I hesitate to call it a prediction, it's more of a forecast. Much like the weather, human behavioral factors can be relied upon to a certain extent, but there can always be unforeseen variables that the math doesn't support. For example, while on the way to his scheduled robbery location, someone cuts a villain off and incites his rage, causing him to deviate from his premeditated crime of robbery to an unintended crime of assault. Premeditated crime is predictable, but there is currently no reliable way to predict crimes of passion."
"The value of this program isn't really in predicting crime," Hawks suddenly spoke up. "It's in creating better response efficiencies. This gives us a way to cut down on the overall area that heroes and police have to cover. Ideally, we would dispatch someone to each location."
"With the number of heroes we have left, that's supposed to be more efficient?" The Police Commissioner incredulously asked.
"Some heroes could end up covering multiple zones at once, depending on how close together they are. We can't afford to focus on just our own agency's jurisdiction anymore. If we have an idea about what villains might be active in a certain area, we can dispatch the hero who has the best chance at handling them at that time. The quicker an incident gets resolved, the faster that hero can move on to the next probable attack location," Hawks pragmatically replied.
"When this is finished, would you be able to use it to track down that pesky League of Villains?" The Prime Minister asked, his tone sounding openly interested.
Misaki shook her head. "I can't say that with any certainty. They evolve too quickly, and their attack patterns are incredibly sporadic. It would be better to attempt to track each member individually than to try and track them down as a group. And even that I can't say would yield any reliable results."
"But it would be worth a try," Shira prompted pointedly, gazing at Misaki with a look that clearly said that she preferred she agree with the sentiment.
Not for the first time since she'd been given the job, Misaki found herself wondering about Hebisawa Shira's motivation behind offering it to her. There was definitely more to it than just a desire to fulfill an old friend's last request. Clearly, this all had something to do with tracking down the League of Villains, she just wasn't sure exactly why yet. Until she had a better grasp on things, she would continue to play along with the councilwoman's whims. For now.
"Of course," Misaki cordially replied.
The Prime Minister hummed happily. "Very well. Your proposal is hereby approved, Shira."
Proposal? That was the first she'd heard of such a thing.
Whatever it was, Shira looked quite pleased with its approval as she bowed her head and replied, "Thank you, Prime Minister."
Standing from his seat, the Prime Minister announced, "Well then—"
Hawks stood as well and politely interrupted, "Just a moment, if I may."
All eyes in the room turned toward him.
"Until we can get the villain threat under control, the three of us have come up with some precautionary measures we'd like the government's assistance with," he explained.
"Oh? Is that so?" The Prime Minister commented as he returned to his seat before motioning for Hawks to continue.
Misaki took her seat next to Hawks as he sat back down and Best Jeanist took over the explanation. "Along the same lines as Torimodo-san's program, we would like to request that the same be considered for the civilian population as well. Given the recent decline in the number of heroes who are able to respond to the escalation of violent crime in the nation, in order to better protect all citizens, we are recommending that everyone who is able be evacuated to more secure locations."
Hawks continued, "We've already gotten in contact with all of the hero training institutions around the country, and they've agreed to open up their facilities to the public as designated evacuation shelters. We would therefore like to requisition government aid to help support the schools in fostering civilians in need of shelter, along with enforcing a government-mandated evacuation order in and around any high-risk areas, until the threat level is diminished."
The Police Commissioner scoffed. "And just how do you expect the public is going to respond to you forcing them to leave their homes and accept living in a shelter for the foreseeable future?"
For the first time since they entered the room, Endeavor spoke. "The situation is not ideal, but we believe it is necessary. We are prepared to take full responsibility for this course of action, and everything that has led to it."
The man shot him a sour glare. "I certainly hope so, considering that most of it is in fact your fault."
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that saturated the space following that remark. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for the heroes to respond.
Endeavor boldly met the Police Commissioner's stark glare and replied, "You're absolutely right. It's our duty as heroes to protect civilians and put them at ease, and I, Endeavor, have failed in that duty. The only way I can atone for that failure is to make the country safe again. No matter the cost."
Misaki was suddenly reminded of watching Endeavor speak on stage at the last Hero Billboard Chart JP event. He'd been just as impelling then when he'd asked the public to watch him. Well, they were watching, everyone was, to see how he was going to fix the mess that had become of their once peacefully flawed society. It still turned her gut that she wasn't able to take any accountability for the role she'd played in the latest atrocity. But the three heroes sitting next to her seemed more than willing to shoulder that burden on their own, and although she might not agree with it, she had to respect their devotion and determination to lead everyone toward a truly peaceful society.
The Prime Minister cleared his throat. "Well… If the academies are on board, the government will of course offer them our full support. To make the country safe again."
All three of them stand up and bowed while Endeavor pronounced, "Thank you very much, Prime Minister."
The Prime Minister hummed approvingly. "I believe all of us have more important places to be very soon. This meeting is adjourned."
Everyone else at the table, Misaki included, stood and bowed as the Prime Minister left the room. She glanced up just in time to see a meaningful look pass between Best Jeanist and Fukahire-san before he quickly hurried out of the room after the Prime Minister. A lightbulb flashed on in her mind upon witnessing the brief interaction and she lifted her hand to her mouth, widening her eyes as she let out a soft gasp of surprise.
Shira's voice addressing her from behind stopped her from being able to consider it any further though. "It was a good call, bringing the heroes along."
Misaki spun around to face the woman and sheepishly admitted, "It was actually Hawks's idea."
She raised a thin, pale eyebrow at her as she narrowed her eyes into a knowing glare. "You were the one who told him about the meeting this morning, weren't you?"
Misaki's immediate instinct at being presented with such a blatant suggestion was to panic. "Uh—I—"
Shira smirked and shot her a sidelong glance. "Don't worry, I won't tell. I've always suspected that the two of you were closer than you let on. Ever since the auction last year, or perhaps even before then?"
"You have quite a discerning eye, Hebisawa-san," Misaki stiffly observed.
"We both do, I suspect," Shira hummed in reply. "Why don't we meet for lunch tomorrow to discuss the finer details of your new employment?"
Misaki swallowed down her nerves and nodded. "I'd appreciate that."
Shira shot her a shrewd grin as she turned, waving over her shoulder as she walked away. "I'll be in touch."
Misaki had to admit, she wasn't exactly sad to see the woman go.
"Will you be accompanying us to the press conference, Torimodo-san?" Jeanist's mellow voice suddenly addressed her from her left.
She turned toward the man and opened her mouth to respond before thinking better of it and snapping her jaw shut. Her eyes wandered over to Hawks and they both began to speak with the same expression on their faces at the same exact time:
"If you don't want to—"
"If you don't want me to—"
The other two heroes exchanged an exasperated look before quickly excusing themselves from the awkward situation.
Heaving a small sigh, Hawks picked up her coat from the back of her chair and held it open for her. As she turned around and slid her arms inside the sleeves, he started to softly explain, "It's not that I don't want you to be there, Misa-chan. I just don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position. I know you're not a big fan of the idea in the first place."
Misaki flipped her long, dark hair out from the back of the coat before turning around to face him, staring deep into his eyes as she told him, "The way I feel about the situation is in no way a reflection of my feelings about your decision to participate in it. It's your choice, Keigo, and I have the utmost respect for that." She reached out to cup his face in her hand. "If I can support you in any way, there's nowhere else I'd rather be."
His expression continued to soften as she spoke and he leaned in to gently rest his forehead against hers before whispering sincerely, "Thank you."
He pulled back and they stood there smiling at each other affectionately for a moment before turning and heading out of the darkened conference room together.
~ Author's Note ~
Thank you so much for reading ❤️
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