Hirota lays flat on a hospital bed. Numerous electrodes mark his exposed chest like white sunspots.
Angela stands up from behind her monitor. She begins to take off the electrodes. Her sea-foam blue eyes shimmer. "Your vitals are the picture of health. It is rather impressive how perfect they are."
"Thanks." Hirota smiles.
"Do you mind humoring me?"
"Not at all, doctor."
"Do you know your parents?"
"I have some vague shapes," he says. "But they're not as concrete. As other memories."
Angela jots something down on a legal pad. "Vague shapes?"
"Like a monochrome dream of black ink."
Angela's eyes turn into saucers.
"Is… something wrong?"
Angela shakes her head. She gives him a smile like everything is perfectly well. "Nothing. Tell me about your other memories. What is the earliest thing you can remember?"
"Kiriko."
Angela tilts her head. "What do you mean?"
"She and I…" Hirota trails off. The words are difficult to find. Eventually, he does find them. "We were good friends, once."
"What changed?"
"I made a mistake," he says. "I left."
Angela frowns. "You cannot blame yourself for what happened to Kanezaka. It was more than just you."
"I could have stopped it."
"Stop." Angela stands up once again. "You are right. You could have stopped it. But if you go around stopping every crime in the world, saving every life, killing or maiming every criminal, setting the world on fire because you are able to save lives… You will lose yourself, Hirota."
"How do you know?"
She stares at him. Her eyes are hollow with grief. "I have seen better men than you try. They all died. Or worse."
Hirota is quiet. Angela continues.
"You are still so young, and your fire burns so bright," she says. "You may be a superhero, Hirota, but sometimes even heroes need saving."
"How?" Hirota asks. His voice— it catches on the bare edges of his lips. "Help me."
Angela smiles. It is soft and small, quaint enough that he catches himself smiling as well. "We're Overwatch, Hirota. That's what we do here."
He nods.
In the days that follow his appointment with Angela, there is marked improvement in his mental health and well-being. He actively talks with the rest of Overwatch instead of hanging out at the bar with Cassidy. The others are impressed with the change, but they are more than receptive to his suddenly amplified presence.
"Avoid Kiriko for now," Angela tells him.
"Why?"
"You and her are like hot oil and fire. Too dangerous to be near one another," she says. "Everyone on the team has noticed it."
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for. And neither does she. What happened to both of you was out of your control."
"I… I just want things to go back to the way they were."
"That will take a long, long time, Hirota," says Angela. "Healing— truly healing— is a process. One that you must work through."
"Can I count on your help?"
"Certainly."