Hyori and the Principal arrived at three in the afternoon in the parking lot under the headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission. An agent she hadn't registered the name welcomed them and took them towards an elevator that ascended straight to the thirty-seventh floor. The lift only stopped at selected floors, namely the twenty-seventh, the underground parking lot and lower levels. Hyori assumed it was a restricted lift only a few workers had access to.
The elevator's doors opened on the desired floor and the agent led them at the end of the main hall. He badged his card to open the double solid door and revealed a modest salon. The four grey couches circling a low table had been the only furniture inside a room at least four times as large as the salon's surface. The Bright sun rays were filtering through the glassed and tall windows and one might believe the summer was still at its peak outside. The almost blinding light inside the grey poorly furnished room made the area look unfinished. A middle-aged blond woman was sitting inside the room. Her turquoise eyes locked with Hyori's lavender ones when she introduced herself as the President of the Hero Commission.
"Please, have a seat." Invited the woman.
Hyori and the Principal did as requested and the agent who had escorted them exited the room.
"Thank you for meeting me on such a short notice." Said the woman. "As you must be aware, Yu Megumi is currently under our custody following the trafficking she had been a victim of. She's currently enduring a traumatic episode and I've been made aware you could help her. Can you?" She addressed Hyori.
"I hope I can." Replied the teen girl.
The door opened again and the agent entered the room with Megumi in a wheelchair. She wasn't moving and looked like the subject of Hyori's brainwashing. Hyori noticed the gloves she was wearing and wondered if the younger's quirk was active.
"We had to restrain her abilities after she made some agents blackout. They are currently unconscious and under medical observation."
The taller teen rose from the sofa and rushed to the wheelchair. She lifted the girl from the chair and sat Megumi on her lap as she sat back on the couch. She held the girl's head above her heartbeat and whispered to wake up in her ears. The girl's mind was faintly responding to Hyori's gestures. She was hiding inside her mind and wasn't ready to come out.
"I will be out for a while." The taller said as she pried the gloves off Megumi's hands before holding one with her free hand.
Hyori opened her eyes inside Megumi's headspace. An earthquake seemed to have shaken the room and books littered the bed. Hyori put them back onto the shelves and uncovered the younger one's prone figure. She cradled the girl in her arms and called her.
"Megumi, open your eyes."
The younger did as she was told and blinked her eyes open.
"I thought I would never see you again." Whispered the younger teen.
"Me too. I was afraid." Replied Hyori.
"We can stay like that forever." Offered Megumi.
"I want us to see the world and keep on living. Let's wake up." Invited Hyori.
"I can make up anything we want. I don't want to leave your side again." Countered Megumi.
"I can't promise we will be together at every hour but I will remain in your life. Please, trust me." Replied Hyori.
Reluctantly, Megumi closed her eyes and they both woke up inside the salon. The Principal and the Commission President let go of the breath they had been holding. More agents had entered the room during her absence and Hyori recognised the 'Deputy President' in the back. The latter fetched his phone from one of his pants' pockets and remained on a call for a minute before hanging up. He shook his head as a sign for the Commission President and Hyori sensed disappointment.
"The affected agents are still unconscious. Can you wake them up?" Asked the President to Hyori.
"I can't but I can assist Megumi when she tries again. She needs to rest for at least a day beforehand." Answered the older teen.
"It's unfortunate." Stated the middle-aged woman.
"Madam President, as you witnessed, these two girls can't be separated. Not at the moment." Started the Principal. "It would be in everyone's interest to keep them together."
Hyori and Megumi looked at the woman with expectation since she seemed to have the final word.
"I understand but our accommodation isn't prepared for two people. Also, I think you both should work on the codependence you developed." Replied the woman. "Still, we grant you the authorisation to visit with Yu Megumi."
Megumi faced Hyori with a silent demand to stay by her side.
"Thank you for your understanding, Madam President." Said Hyori.
The President rose from the couch and exited the salon with the agents except for the 'Deputy President'. The man exhaled and looked as tired as he could be.
"I'm Mera Yokumiru, Vice President of the Hero Commission." He introduced himself. "Come with me. I'll guide you inside your new place."
He promptly exited the room and the trio followed him towards the elevator they previously used. They boarded and descended to the underground parking where the man invited them inside his car.
"You can head back to the Ultra Academy. You must be needed there." He addressed the Principal.
"My collaborators can handle my absence for some hours. They will be fine." Replied the chimaera as he boarded in the front seat.
The Vice President exhaled before powering the engine and exiting the parking lot while the Principal sent a text message. They drove for five minutes before stopping in front of a mundane four-storey building. The Deputy President walked ahead inside the building and stopped by the lobby at the entrance. On the outside, it looked like a regular housing accommodation but a map at the entrance showed the building covered thirty-four thousand square metres, three hundred and ten metres in depth for fifty-eight metres of facade. The building was partitioned into three areas. A 'create zone', a 'share zone' and a 'chill zone'.
The lady hosting the lobby called them with a camera in her arms. Hyori experienced a déjà vu as the young woman snapped pictures of both girls and printed two badges with their names. She scanned a 'guest' badge and handed the three to the Vice President who passed them to the trio following him. The man walked past the lobby and scanned his badge to open what looked like train station gates. Hyori was disappointed she would have to pass through doors that closed in people's noses as she went through one of the five remaining ones. Megumi and the Principal did the same.
They followed the Vice President into a large hall with a glassed roof. The place looked like a covered street with tall plants in pots and public benches as couches were put down the lengths and people were seated on some of them. The hall was as large as a two-lane road with a channel-like partition that looked like an open basement.
"The campus is nearly empty and is reserved for the Hero Commission agents." Said the man.
On each side of the hall, three blocs hosted four cubicles on two levels and a joint terrace on the second floor. Curtains were drawn over some of them and empty bedrooms could be seen from the open ones. Hyori assumed the cubicles with drawn curtains were occupied.
The man led them down the hall on the right side until they passed two blocs. When they arrived in front of the last bloc, they walked down the secondary hall between blocs. Behind the cubicles visible from the main hall, other cubicles were facing them on the ground level and the first floor. Another hall parted the stack of cubicles by the main hall from the stack of cubicles by the building's outside walls. At the end of the secondary hall parallel to the main hall, metallic stairs lead to the upper levels. They took the stairs to the first floor and walked until they reached door 'D19'.
"D for the third row from the left to the right side of the building entrance, 9 for the ninth row from the entrance to the back of the building and 1 for the first floor." Indicated the Vice President.
A sterile bedroom welcomed the two girls who badged the door handle to unlock it. Unlike the hotel's basement apartment, this door was a regular one that would remain open as long as it wasn't mechanically closed. The room should be twenty-something square metres and didn't have a bathroom. Hyori assumed the bathrooms were common and probably not as cosy as the one in the hotel's basement. The room was empty beside a desk and a twin bed with two baskets underneath.
"Each cubicle is twenty-five square metres. The bathrooms and restrooms are common in the basement." Said the Vice President.
Megumi opened the curtains and the sun rays entered the room. It was much better when illuminated but the glassed walls didn't leave any intimacy. Hyori joined her by the open curtain and she could see the outside street. Megumi closed the curtains and they looked back inside the room. They both hadn't packed anything and only had their school uniforms without spare clothes.
"It's half past two in the afternoon. I suggest bringing Miss Shinsou back to school. She will come back after packing Miss Yu's belongings." Announced the Principal.
The younger teen held the older by the waist as a goodbye gesture and demanded.
"Can you help me fall asleep?"
"Of course." Replied Hyori before tucking Megumi and casting her daze on the exhausted girl.
The latter would be asleep in a few minutes and the still-awake girl rose from the bed.
"We can go. She should be asleep by the time I'm out of reach." She said.
The man and the chimaera exited the building with the teen girl behind them. The Vice President drove them back to the commission parking lot and the Principal headed back towards the academy with the pupil. Before parting, the man gave her his phone number which would be the only way to contact Megumi. He suggested texting him before visiting the girl. The demand was odd and suspicious but Hyori would comply. Having an insider's phone number couldn't be a bad thing.
On the route, she ruminated the Commission President's words. She hadn't thought Megumi and her had developed a codependent relationship. She had supposed it was natural for them to bond in a place where they had felt isolated from their families. That feeling had been heightened by their ability to get inside a shared bubble and the similarities of their quirks, the memories of the women who raised them alone and the many dreams they hoped to make true once they had enough money.
The sight of the forest surrounding the route reminded Hyori of her hiking and cycling outings with Megumi. It had only happened for one summer but she felt like she had known the girl and their paths were meant to cross. In less than a year, the younger teen had lit up sparks inside her and become her everything. She assumed it was the same for the other girl who nestled into her arms when she climbed in their shared bed after hosting. The little girl had turned to her for everything and she had happily provided for her.
In hindsight, she was probably in denial for refusing to see their codependent relationship. For the last months, she had told herself they would live happily ever after they escaped the pension. She had wanted to be the one to save the girl so that they would remain side by side. It took the sight of a little girl broken by abusive people to make her realise she couldn't save Megumi on her own. The Commission President might be right. They might need time to find themselves and should trust the heroes to help them. They already did so much for them in so little time. She wanted to trust them again.
Classes were already over when they arrived inside the Ultra Academy's grounds at a quarter to four in the afternoon. On a regular day, Hyori would be moving from her pool classes to her gymnastics classes. On that day, she opted to excuse herself from her training sessions. The Principal walked towards his office while she walked towards the teacher's lounge. Inside the room, she found Mister Yagi whose face lit up when he saw her. He was, again, in the company of Midoriya and Hyori wondered what linked the two of them. The man excused himself and joined Hyori in the empty hall.
"The commission decided to let me visit my little sister regularly." Announced the teen girl.
"That's some good news. Is she better?" Asked the man.
"Yes, thank you." Smiled Hyori from the bottom of her heart.
Her crescent eyes were almost closed and her cheeks creased with the stretch of her full lips.
"You're welcome. I'm happy to have helped both of you. I wish you to keep on smiling like that." Wished the man.