Zero Hero || MHA ||

22. Three Secrets

I opened my eyes to very bright light. Hanging over the bed was a shining fluorescent light. I blinked a few times to adjust. Surely enough, the blinding blurriness of the small room I was in began to focus. The bed I was on creaked when I groggily sat up. The room I was in had no windows, unless the mirror on the wall was a window. It could be one of those one-way mirrors that are at the police stations. The walls and floors were made out of white tiles. A dark, heavy, steel door was in front of me.

        My bare feet hit the cold floors when I stood up, making me shiver. I peered at myself in the mirror to see that I'd changed clothes. I was wearing a light-blue hospital gown and my hair that was up into a bun was a tangled mess now. There was a white band aid on my right arm with the skin around it turning purple. When did I get this? I reached up and gently touched it with my fingers and winced.

        "You're awake now," a deep voice spoke.

        I immediately recognized that nasally voice and spun around to see that no one was there. I scanned the room for an intercom of some sort but I found nothing. Kiyoshi must've sensed my confusion because he said, "You won't be able to see me. I'm on the other side of the glass."

        My eyes flickered back to the glass in front and I asked where I was.

        "The exact location, I can't say. You're in a Crimson Eclipse base. You've been asleep for about three days now. We might've given you a bit too much of the drug."

        "The orange one?"

        "Bingo. You know your stuff, eh? As expected of a girl who was present during the demonstration at Nighteye Agency and the Hero Festival."

        Memories of the Hero Festival flashed in my mind. Arriving at the festival with my family, the attack at the parade, Midoriya's crying face, Furutani and Ruby, Strawberry Shades's battered body, Hiro, Corvade and Endeavor, the black portal...

        Curling my hands into a fist, I asked, "Why am I here? What did you do to me? Where's Hiro?"

       Kiyoshi chuckled in response. "Slow down there. Take a little breather. I'll tell you everything," he said.

        The sounds of a steel beam getting lifted up from the door was heard. The heavy door creaked opened. A tall pale man wearing a maroon blazer with a white shirt underneath stood in the doorway. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows to expose the tattoo of a bleeding viper and a crescent moon. He looked eerie standing in the dark since the outside was very dim compared to how bright it was in my room. A sick feeling formed in my stomach seeing him.

        He held his hands up to show me that he didn't have anything on him. He reassured that he was just coming in to chat and wasn't gonna hurt me. Whether that was true or not didn't matter because I was stuck here regardless. The door closed shut behind him. I didn't dare peel my eyes from him while he spoke.

         "As I said, you're in a Crimson Eclipse base. Three days ago, an ally of mine transported you and Hiro here. They took you back here and we drew some of your blood for samples," he explained. "But that isn't the reason why you're here... I need to convince Ryusaki to come here."

        So, I'm a hostage in order to get Dad to come. But why is Crimson Eclipse so obsessed with Dad? When I asked, he let out a sigh. "Didn't we have this conversation? We need to have a one-on-one chat about something important."

        "What's so important that you need to talk to him about?"

        "You wouldn't understand, kid. It's adult matters."