It's early Monday morning. Touya has spent time recovering all this weekend at my place. It's almost 8am and I'm about to head out to work after having breakfast with Touya. He sits on the couch, watching as I gather my keys and purse from the coffee table.
"Your clothes are folded in the laundry room," I say. "I don't know when you plan on leaving, but it's there."
Touya stares at me as I avoid his gaze.
"I'll be gone by noon," he says.
I'm disappointed that he is in fact leaving, biting my lower lip to keep it from quivering. I clutch the strap of my purse as I put it over my shoulder. Touya sees I want to cry and steps in front of me as I go to the front door. I keep my head lowered, trying to hold back my tears. Touya can see my shoulders shaking a bit. He knows his departure is going to hurt me. With some hesitation, he reaches out to me, slowly pulling me into an embrace. I'm afraid to even return it, knowing I may not see him again, saving myself the pain.
"Will I ever see you again?" I softly say.
"I'm not sure…" Touya replies. "I've still got duties to fulfill…"
This all feels so strange. It's like I'm hugging a ghost. A ghost who will surely disappear again.
"I'm sorry..." Touya continues to hug me.
I bury my face into his chest, a tear rolling down my cheek. Not being able to hold back, I finally return the hug.
"Please be careful, Touya…" I plead. "That's all I ask."
With that, I pull away from him and head out the front door.
I'm entering Endeavor Hero Agency, my mind still rattled about Touya.
'He's alive…' I think to myself. 'After all this time, all this heartache...But how?'
"Akira," someone calls to me from behind.
I'm surprised to see that it's Enji. Out of all the people, he's one of the last I want to run into right now.
"Enji…" I say.
"Are you alright?" He asks. "You...seem like you've seen a ghost."
I shake my head and fake a smile.
"It must've been the long weekend!" I say. "Maybe I had too much to drink."
"Well, be careful not to get carried away," Enji shows genuine concern.
I nod with a forced smile, and we enter the agency together.
I'm on patrol on my own this evening. The sun has set as the city night life continues.
'I wonder if I'll ever see Touya again…' I think to myself. 'Will it really have to go back to him being gone again?'
I keep my gaze down as I continue to think.
'Why did he show up after all these years?' I think. 'Why now?'
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of screams. People are running away from a man who's crashed through a store window. I make my way over and assess the situation. The man has blond hair, green eyes, and a fair complexion. The sleeves of his dress shirt are torn, revealing muscular arms. In his hands are two sacks of cash.
"Drop the money and turn yourself in," I warn.
"Oh? What's this?" The man turns his face to me. "If it isn't the beautiful Nova! What a coincidence!"
My eyes widen a bit upon recognizing him. He's the same man who approached me at the bar a while back. The pretentious douche who couldn't take no for an answer.
"Anzu," I gaze at him.
"How about you show me how rough a lady can be?!" He shouts.
In his hand, he has some sort of syringe and stabs it into his neck. His body begins to twitch as his limbs grow in muscle and he grows in overall size. My eyes widen as he's now standing at a height of ten feet. He punches some cars out of his way, causing them to crash into buildings nearby. People are still scattering to run from the scene. Anzu grabs a car and is about to throw it at a crowd of running people. I blast a beam of energy at his back and he turns to me.
"Your attention is on me," I say. "I rejected your sorry ass, remember?"
He breathes harder, his nostrils flaring and eyes bulging.
"Seems I got his attention," I say to myself.
Anzu then hurls the car at me. I dodge it, letting it land hard on its side. Charging energy at my fists, I lunge at Anzu and strike him multiple times. To my surprise, the hits don't faze him. Normally this amount of energy is enough to neutralize a person.
'He's gotten much stronger,' I think.
"Is that all you can do, baby?" Anzu grins.
"You'll be sorry you asked."
I charge both my fists and blast him in the chest, sending Anzu flying down the block. He lands on top of a car.
"That's how I like it!" Anzu exclaims.
I glance around and still see bystanders lingering. My eyes furrow seeing that I can't be too reckless or else I risk people getting hurt in our fight.
"Everybody! Get far from here!" I shout.
"Keep those pretty golden eyes on me," Anzu suddenly lunges at me.
I'm surprised at his sudden speed. He punches me, sending me flying down the middle of a street and crashing into a public transportation bus. The windows are shattered as I'm stuck in the dented metal. The people inside rush to get out of the bus as I pluck myself out of it. By now, a news helicopter is hovering over the area.
"Come on, beautiful!" Anzu taunts me. "Show me a good time!"
He jumps over to me and grabs me by the neck, pinning me hard against the damaged bus.
"Give me a little lovin'!" Anzu smirks.
He leans in to lick my cheek, pissing me off even more. I charge my fists and begin to swing at him, releasing me from his grasp. I duck to dodge his hit, hitting him with a strong energy punch. He's sent flying down the street a block away.
"Now we're talking!" He gets to his feet.
I furrow my eyes at him. Anzu begins to run at me and I charge my body with energy. Just as he leaps at me, I release the charge of energy, hitting him head on. He flies high up in the air, crashing into a brick building. His head hits the edge of it, knocking him unconscious. I catch my breath as I watch him land hard on a damaged car. His body then begins to twitch again and reduces back to its normal size.
"He didn't stop because of the hit to his head…" I say to myself. "He stopped because whatever he injected himself with didn't last very long."
I wince a bit as my body aches with pain. The police arrive and rush over to Anzu and clean up the scene.
"Nova!" A paramedic approaches me. "You need to be examined for any injuries."
"No, I'm fine," I try not to wince.
"You got hurled into a bus!" She says. "You need to be examined."
I agree and she leads me to the ambulance. It takes her about five minutes to examine me.
"Thankfully there's no internal bleeding," the paramedic says. "That's what I was concerned about."
"I'm sorry for refusing at first," I say. "Thank you."
"You're just bruised up. Just take some pain medicine and rest for some days."
"Akira!" Enji stops outside of the ambulance. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I will be," I stand and exit the ambulance.
"I saw the broadcast of you fighting… I was afraid I made a mistake by not accompanying you on tonight's patrol."
"You're a busy man. I understand."
"I at least could've sent other sidekicks with you…"
"Enji...don't worry about it," I give him a reassuring smile. "I appreciate your concern. But this is the life of a pro hero. We can't always rely on support when we're on our own."
Enji stares at me for a moment.
"At least let me take you home," he insists.
I give him a small smile and nod.
Enji's limousine parks outside my apartment building. He opens the door, making sure I get out carefully.
"I'm sure Fuyumi and the rest saw your fight on the news," Enji says. "I'll make sure to let them know you're alright."
"Thank you," I nod. "I appreciate you driving me home."
I lower my gaze to the ground as Enji studies me carefully.
"Akira…" he says. "You know how I was in the past...I made a lot of mistakes regarding my family...But please, know that I see you as if you were my own."
I'm surprised to hear this.
"If Touya was with us," he continues. "There's no doubt you would have become my daughter-in-law...my family...and that's what you are to us. So if there is anything bothering you, please know that I and my family are here for you."
I stare up at Enji in awe, my eyes becoming watery.
"Thank you, Enji," I bow my head.
"Please, get some rest tonight," Enji says.
"I will," I nod.
Enji watches me head into my apartment building before leaving in his car. I head up to my level using the elevator.
"He's really working on himself…" I smile. "I'm proud of him."
I lean against the wall of the elevator, staring down in thought.
"I wonder if Touya would see that too..." I say.
A police wagon is driving down the street later that night. Two officers are driving it while Anzu is restrained in the back. Up ahead down the road, the officers spot a figure.
"What the…" the officer is confused. "What's he doing standing in the middle of the road?"
The man holds his hand up toward the police wagon. A sudden stream of blue fire hits the front of the vehicle, forcing the officer driving to hit the brakes. The police wagon screeches, but it loses control and swerves to the right. It flips over on its side, screeching across the pavement. The man who was standing in the middle of the road approaches the wagon. He sees that the police drivers are unconscious and makes his way to the back. He grabs the lock to the back doors and melts it off, opening the doors. Anzu opens his eyes after waking up, gazing out to see who it is. He can only see the shadow outline of the man's body.
"Who...are you?" Anzu is confused.
The man holds up his hand toward Anzu, blasting a stream of blue flames at him. Anzu wails in agonizing pain as he slowly burns. The flames die down, only leaving a black smoldering body.
I'm leaning against the wall that leads to my kitchen, limping a bit. It's been a couple of hours now since my fight with Anzu. I head into the kitchen and open the bottom freezer of my fridge. I pull out a large ice pack, closing the freezer after. I lean with one hand on the marble counter, holding the ice pack on the back of my left shoulder. It's cold against my bare skin as I'm wearing a black tank top and shorts. I flinch as I let the frozen ice pack settle and numb my pain. The kitchen window suddenly opens and Touya climbs in.
"You could knock," I joke.
After closing the window, Touya takes his dark blue jacket off and follows me to the living area. I plop down on the couch, wincing at my aching body. Touya sits next to me on my left.
"Let me do it," Touya holds the ice pack on the back of my shoulder.
"Thanks…" I let him.
I relax my arm as Touya takes over. He gently holds the ice pack on me, his eyes studying my back. My pale skin is purple and blue in uneven shapes. Some scrapes are also scattered, along with scars decorating parts of my body. Touya can't help but narrow his eyes, feeling sorrow at seeing my body like this.
"Does it hurt a lot?" He asks.
"Just an aching pain," I reply. "With all my years under the Commission, this is nothing new. Piece of cake," I keep it light hearted.
Touya keeps his gaze at my battered body.
"I'm assuming you saw the fight…" I say.
"I saw what he did to you…" he says.
"The douche should be in the slammer by now."
"He didn't make it that far."
My eyes dart up at his response, knowing well what he means.
"Touya...did you...kill Anzu?" I ask.
"You know the answer to that…" he replies.
I'm not surprised.
"I'm not gonna let someone get away with hurting you…" Touya says.
"He would've faced punishment in prison for what he did," I say.
"That's too easy for trash like him."
I stare down at the floor in thought.
"Am I still not a threat to you?" Touya asks.
"Despite what you've done…no," I reply.
Touya is a bit surprised. His phone rings in his jean pocket.
"What?" He's annoyed. "Fine… I'll be there."
Touya hangs up and slips his phone back into his jean pocket.
"Duty calls, huh?" I say.
"I'm sorry," he says.
I nod and take hold of the ice pack from Touya. He heads back to the kitchen, putting his dark blue jacket on. He slides the window up and climbs out into the fire escape, closing the window after him. I sit in silence as I keep my gaze to the floor.