Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 17

By the time I got back to the agency, I was panting and gasping for breath - I'd run the whole way back even though both my mind and my body were exhausted from the fight with the League. Still, I was already late to the meeting I'd needed to attend, and although I hoped that Niko would understand, I'd probably get an earful about just how much harder I was making it for him to do his job. I burst through the main doors and immediately doubled over, hands on my knees as I tried to calm my breathing and slow my racing heartbeat. I managed to get back in a little more than fifteen minutes, but that meant I was almost an hour late to the meeting, and I shuddered slightly at the thought of having to deal with an angry Niko. 

I was still hunched over when footsteps echoed through the lobby, and I glanced up, already dreading the interaction I was about to have with the one and only Niko, who angrily marched towards me. Their face was locked in an angry scowl, and I flinched with every step they took closer to me, knowing damn well that I was about to be told off, but the scolding never came. Instead, Niko let out an exasperated sigh, almost as if he didn't know what to do with me anymore, and I managed to straighten myself out now that my breathing was a little more stable.

"Before you say anything," I started, taking my time to pause for breaths, "I really didn't mean to be late. It's just that the League o-"

"Yes, yes, I'm aware, Kira." Niko pinched the bridge of their nose, and I could almost feel the annoyance roll off in waves. "I'll have to reschedule it. Anyway, there's a bigger problem."

I raised my eyebrow. "What is it? Keigo got back, right? I sent him ahead with a villain."

 "About that. You really need to stop using those poisons of yours. Do you know how difficult it is to take care of a person who can't do anything but talk?" Yep, here comes the lecture. Niko narrowed their eyes and glared at me, probably sensing that I was no longer giving him my full attention. "It's pointless talking to you. Just go down to the interrogation rooms."

I nodded, relieved that I was spared from the boredom of a long speech about everything I'd managed to mess up, and turned to the elevator near the center of the lobby, entering and pressing the two lowest buttons at the same time. The interrogation floor wasn't something that we wanted a random civilian to enter accidentally, so the agency was built with a hidden floor that could only be accessed from the elevator by pressing the two buttons simultaneously. With a quiet ding, the doors slid open, and I walked through the cold halls, checking every door to see which one Keigo had decided to take, not at all surprised that he'd chosen the room at the very end of the hall - he'd always said that interrogations make him a little nervous, and the far room seemed to offer a little more privacy. 

The rooms were built in a pretty simple system - the room itself had bare gray walls, with a table screwed into the ground so that it couldn't move, and two heavy chairs, one of which had handcuffs attached to it. One of the walls was a fake one-way mirror,  behind which was the second room, used for observation. That one was a little more decorated, with several comfortable chairs, a computer, and even a water filter - interrogations often got long, so comfort was something that was always being searched for. Something about the interrogation rooms made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that there was no way of knowing whether or not someone was watching me from behind the fake mirror, or maybe it was just the fact that I always found it hard for me to conduct a decent interrogation without going overboard. 

The room Keigo was using had the lock twisted in a different direction than all the others, and, not wanting to interrupt him, I slipped into the empty monitoring room instead. Sure enough, from my perfect view of the entire room thanks to the one-way mirror, I could clearly see Keigo doing his absolute best to stay rational with the villain, who, in turn, almost looked bored. I sunk into one of the chairs and felt my eyes grow a little heavy - I'd just sprinted for fifteen minutes straight, not to mention the fact that overusing my quirk still made me drowsy, and frankly, it was something of a miracle that I'd even managed to get to the interrogation rooms without falling asleep on my feet.

I tried to stay awake - I really did. Even so, it was difficult. The warmth of the room seemed to be inviting me to sleep, and I shifted in the chair a little to get more comfortable, careful to not accidentally stab myself with the blades that still hung from my belt. My eyelids seemed to be drooping lower with every passing second, and although I did my best to fight the temptation of sleep, I eventually felt myself drift off, my dreams both empty and full of terror at the same time.

"Kira, wake up," I heard someone whisper, nudging me awake, and I slowly opened one eye just to see Keigo leaning over me. He looked about as tired as I felt, which said a lot, since I was still absolutely exhausted. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and slowly stretched out, standing up from the chair to give Keigo a quick kiss. He gave me a faint smile, and I brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes.

"How's it going with the questioning?" I asked, stifling a yawn, and Keigo shook his head slightly, the stray hair falling down again, not even half a minute after I tucked it away.

"Not good. He's refusing to talk. We can't even get his name out of him." Keigo groaned in defeat, and I pushed him onto the chair. He needed to rest, and it looked like the interrogation had drained him. Keigo smiled the slightest bit, relaxing into the cushioned seat, and I sighed a little as I hugged him from behind, resting my chin on the top of his head. I closed my eyes, letting myself imagine for a few seconds that we were home together and were free to do whatever we wanted, but the feeling quickly passed when my eyes fluttered open once again.

I turned my attention away from my overworked lover, turning instead to face the one-sided mirror to check up on how the interrogation was going. The villain was still handcuffed to the chair, but he leaned back against it as if he was perfectly comfortable with the current situation. I tilted my head a little in confusion when the unmistakable flaming red hair of Akina peered back at me, and I frowned - it's not that I was upset to see my friend, but it wasn't exactly the place for a singer to be assisting in an interrogation of a villain. Thankfully, she wasn't in the room alone - there was another hero with her.

I'd worked a few missions with the hero before. From what I remembered, her name was Kagami Eiko, and her quirk gave her the ability to mirror anything around her. It was a pretty strong quirk - any quirk within a maybe one hundred meter radius, she was able to copy it and use it to her advantage. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure she'd been the one who'd immediately rushed to help the civilians in the bank. I was still a little confused by what Akina was doing there, though. She wasn't exactly permitted to be helping with an interrogation, and I turned to Keigo, who seemed to be half-asleep, but he noticed the way I was staring at the scene unfolding in the room in front of us.

"She swore to secrecy, and the villain wasn't saying anything," he mumbled quietly. "I was hoping that she'd be able to get something out of him with her quirk." 

I nodded in understanding. Akina's quirk, although not too strong, let her influence a person's thoughts, almost like her voice was a whisper in their mind. I'd had the misfortune of Akina using her quirk on me before, and I had to admit that it wasn't a pleasant feeling. If anyone had a chance of getting information out of a villain that was staying silent, it would be her. Combined with her influence, and the fact that the villain must be mentally exhausted by now, I was sure he'd slip, and Akina's whisper in his mind would force information out of him.

That just made me even more surprised when both Akina and Kagami hunched their backs in defeat, leaving the interrogation room, and not even half a minute later, they were both in the monitoring room with me and Keigo. Kagami flopped onto the spare chair across from me, and Akina just tipped her chin in the direction of the villain. 

"I couldn't get anything out of him," she sighed, but her eyes locked on mine. "But he did say that he'll only talk to you."