Hawks awoke slowly to the sound of chirping birds and the familiar touch of a gentle wind brushing across the right side of his face. He was lying on his stomach in a soft bed that smelled faintly of cinnamon and honey, a scent he had always subconsciously associated with Misaki. Memories from the previous day suddenly flashed through his half-conscious mind and he remembered winding up at her apartment before literally passing out on her in the living room. He cracked his eyes open and blinked a couple of times at the bright light filtering in through the sheer curtains billowing in the breeze from the open balcony doors across the room. She must have carried him into the bedroom while he was unconscious. Knowing that she was more nimble than sturdy, he was actually kind of impressed that she'd managed it on her own.
Now that he was fully awake, his bowels took the opportunity to urge him to get out of bed and he grudgingly heeded their call, reaching down to throw the covers off before sitting up. Looking down at himself, he took note that she had also apparently removed his clothing and changed his bandages at some point. He really must have been out of it to have missed all of that. Glancing down at the end of the bed, he saw that she had laid out his clothes from the day before, neatly folded and looking like they had been washed and pressed. He'd never been one to leave behind many personal effects at her apartment while they'd been dating, so these were probably the only items of clothing she had to offer him at the moment.
After carefully slipping his clothes on, he made his way toward the door that led from her bedroom into the bathroom to use the toilet. Once he'd relieved himself, he wandered out the door that led into the entryway and headed toward the kitchen, figuring that was where Misaki was likely to be at the moment given the heady aroma of roasted coffee in the air. Sure enough, there she was, sitting at the bar counter, holding a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and her smartphone in the other as she scrolled through either her email or the news.
Her eyes immediately shifted over to him when he walked into the room and she set the phone and the coffee mug down, smiling at him affectionately in greeting. "Good morning."
"Morning," he answered with a scratchy voice, walking up to her as she stood and wrapping his arms around her in a warm hug. "Thanks for taking care of me yesterday."
"You're welcome," her muffled voice drifted up from his chest before she pulled back. Cocking her head to the side a bit, she gazed up at him and asked, "Are you hungry?"
"Starving," he immediately replied. It had been almost eighteen hours since he'd eaten anything, and his stomach was definitely letting him know how unhappy it was about that at the moment.
Misaki shyly ducked her head, grinning to herself as she picked up the mug of sweetened coffee she'd been holding when he'd walked in and held it out to him. "Here. Go ahead and sit down. I'll make you some breakfast."
He accepted her offering with a grateful grin before making his way toward the dining room and taking a seat at the foot of the table. A few minutes later, Misaki walked over carrying a tray with two large bowls and one slightly smaller one sitting on top of it, carefully setting it down on the table before placing each bowl in front of him. The first was filled to the brim with soft scrambled eggs, garnished with a few thinly sliced strips of grilled nori. The next bowl appeared to be torn pieces of lightly grilled salmon over simple white rice, followed by a steaming bowl of miso soup. All things that were easy to eat and wouldn't aggravate his throat. She set a pair of chopsticks on a holder next to them and removed the tray, setting it down at the other end of the table before picking up her own coffee mug from the kitchen counter and taking a seat next to him.
He smiled at her appreciatively as he picked up the chopsticks and croaked out, "Thank you, this looks delicious."
"Enjoy," she said, returning his smile, bringing her coffee mug up to her lips, and crossing her legs in her chair.
Not needing to be told twice, he quickly dug into the meal she'd made, getting several large bites in before sliding his gaze back over to her and commenting, "Not that I don't appreciate your company, Misa-chan, but it's kinda awkward to eat with you sitting there staring at me like that."
"Huh?" She blinked in surprise before lifting a hand to cover her mouth, widening her eyes, and letting out a soft gasp. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even notice! I'll go—"
He reached out to grab her hand when she moved to get up from her seat. "Stay."
She sat back down in her chair. "Are you sure?"
He let go of her hand and sat back. "Yeah, just... Can we maybe talk, or something?"
Misaki quickly nodded. "Yeah, of course. What do you wanna talk about?"
"How are you?" He asked, gazing at her in open interest as he picked his eating utensils back up and took another large bite of his breakfast.
"Um, okay, I guess," she replied somewhat uncomfortably, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "After I heard about what happened at headquarters, I went by the hospital to check on everyone, but no one would tell me anything. As I was leaving, I ran into Detective Tsukauchi and he told me about the President."
"I'm sorry. I know you two were close," he remarked sympathetically.
"Thanks," she said with a small, appreciative smile before dropping her gaze to the table. "To be honest, we weren't really that close anymore. Hearing about her death so suddenly still hit me pretty hard though. That shock, combined with all of the overwork I'd accumulated from prepping for and executing the raids... I actually ended up fainting at the hospital."
He shot her a concerned gaze as he asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. They gave me some fluids and told me to get some rest at home after I woke up the next morning," Misaki sheepishly explained.
"Is that where you got this from?" He asked as he reached out to run his thumb over the red spot on her cheek.
She cringed slightly and averted her gaze before admitting, "Uh, not exactly..."
He raised a curious eyebrow at her, and she reluctantly elaborated, "Three villains broke into my apartment yesterday and tried to rob me."
His shock at that unexpected revelation caused him to exclaim aloud, "What!?"
The sudden strain on his damaged vocal cords sent him into a slight coughing fit and Misaki quickly rushed to get him a glass of water. He'd been doing pretty well with resting his voice over the past two days, but shouting was apparently a bit of an overextension still. His doctor had given him a spray that would numb the pain in his throat so that he could speak without much difficulty, but he preferred to use it only when absolutely necessary. The lingering aftertaste was horribly bitter, and it definitely was not something he wanted to use while eating.
She handed him the glass as she gently laid her hand on his back and asked, "Are you okay?"
He nodded, accepting it from her with a grateful smile. As the cool liquid mercifully eased the burning in his throat, he reached out to type into his phone sitting on the table in front of him, "What happened?"
She sighed softly before retaking her seat. "It was the leader of the crew of villains that tried to rob Tythan the second time. He saw me on the news at the press conference when the President announced my promotion, and he must have tracked down my address somehow when they broke out of prison. They got the drop on me initially, but I managed to fend them off." She lifted a hand to touch her cheek. "That's how I got this."
He shot her a concerned gaze as he quietly asked, "Did they hurt you?"
"I think I probably hurt them a lot more than they hurt me actually," she replied with a shrug before reaching out to lay her hand over his, looking him in the eye and calmly assuring him, "Honestly, I'm fine."
The woman had just survived a blitz attack, and she was the one comforting him. He'd always known that Misaki had a heroic level of resolve. Back up her natural inclination toward helping people with her intellect and the proper training, not to mention her incredible quirk, and she had the potential to be one of the best heroes in the business. There was no doubt in his mind that the country could use a few more heroes with potential like hers at the moment.
"Wow..." Hawks sighed, staring across the table at her reverently.
"What?" She asked, shying away from his scrutiny slightly.
He shook his head and smirked. "You just never fail to exceed my expectations."
Leaning forward and resting her elbow on the table, she dropped her chin into the palm of her hand, gazing back at him playfully from the corner of her eye as she said, "Maybe you should set higher standards."
He let out a short laugh. "You're probably right about that." Looking down at the bowl on the table in front of him, he casually mentioned under his breath, "I'm relieved."
"About what?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
He shifted his eyes to the side and grimaced. "I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to validate how our relationship ended but seeing who you are now..." He glanced back at her briefly before dropping his eyes back into his lap. "Kinda makes it feel like it was worth it."
"Are you ready to talk about that?" Misaki asked in a reserved tone of voice as she sat back in her chair.
He glanced back up at her. "What?"
She shot him a reticent look and replied shortly, "Our breakup."
In response to the seriousness of her tone, he set his chopsticks back down on the table and gave her his undivided attention. "Yeah, sure. What's on your mind?"
She sat back in her chair and stared down at her hands for a moment before looking back up at him with barely veiled ire simmering behind her narrowed, cherry blossom colored eyes. "You remember telling me that my feelings for you weren't real, right?"
He almost choked on the shock that rocketed through him, both from her words and the tone she'd used to convey them. Frantically waving his hands in front of himself, Hawks rushed to assure her, "Hey, wait a second! That's not what I meant at all!"
"Is that so?" She flatly replied, her tone and expression remaining unchanged by his assurance.
Hawks cringed, reaching a hand up to rub the side of his bandaged head with a grimace. "Oh, man... You've been mad about that for a while, huh?"
She tilted her head to the side and dryly remarked, "Only the last six months or so."
He shifted his seat to move closer to her. Settling in front of her, he looked her in the eye and spoke in the sincerest tone he could muster from his damaged vocal cords at the moment. "Misaki, what I was talking about not being real was me. The last thing I meant to do was discredit your feelings. There was nothing more genuine about our relationship than the way we felt about each other. That's why I gave you this." He reached out and slid his fingers under the pendant of the necklace hanging around her neck. "To help remind you of that when I couldn't."
"Was breaking up with me the only way that you could deal with that?" She incredulously asked, her hurt overtaking her anger in her face and voice.
He let out a heavy sigh and dropped his hand away from her necklace, sitting back in his chair and gazing at her forlornly as he replied, "I broke up with you because it was what we needed; because I was keeping you caged inside of a perception I had of you that would one day end up killing everything I loved about you. I had to set you free. For you and for me."
"Why couldn't you just tell me that?" She entreated him, her voice breaking with the emotion that was threatening to spill forth from her misty eyes.
"Would you have let me go if I had?" He piteously asked.
One lone tear escaped from a despondent eye, rolling freely down her smooth, pale cheek before she dipped her head and sadly replied, "Probably not..."
He reached out to cup her cheek, gently brushing his thumb under her eye to wipe away her tears. "No matter how much it hurt, we had to let go. Of everything. Break it all down. If we ever wanted to have a chance to rebuild."
"Did you?" Her quiet voice drifted up to him.
"What?" He whispered back.
"Let it all go?" She asked, sniffling, and lifting her eyes to gaze into his. "Did you?"
He dropped his hand from her face and guiltily shifted his eyes away from hers.
"I knew it..." She trailed off in an accusatory tone. "You were watching me, weren't you?"
"Sometimes," he quietly admitted.
She sniffled again and asked, "How often?"
He glanced back at her, rubbing the back of his head as he sheepishly admitted, "When I was in town. I'd stop by to check in on you sometimes."
She huffed out an incredulous laugh. "Break it all down, huh?"
"What about you?" He wasn't really certain that he wanted to know the answer to this, but since they were clearing the air, it seemed like an appropriate time to address the issue.
She shot him a bewildered expression and asked, "What about me?"
He reached up to rub the back of his bandaged head and shifted his eyes away from her uncomfortably. "I heard you on the phone with someone right before Christmas. It sounded like you were really looking forward to going on a date together."
"Date? What—?" Her line of baffled questioning suddenly cut off as a look of realization spread across her face, widening her eyes, and forming her mouth into an "o" shape. Her hand rose to cover her mouth and she let out a soft snort. "I can't believe that was how you interpreted that!"
"So, it wasn't a date then?" He'd never really considered himself to be the jealous type, but then again, he'd never really been in love with anyone before her.
She tilted her head from side to side and glanced away, conceding, "Well, I mean—technically, yes, it was. But not the kind of date you're thinking of."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "What does that mean? From the way you spoke, it kinda seemed like you already had pretty strong feelings for the guy."
She lifted the back of her hand to her mouth and giggled. "Not for him, silly."
Hawks tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Huh?"
Misaki got up from the table and walked around the counter into the kitchen. When she returned a moment later, she was carrying her phone. She tapped the screen a few times before turning it around to show him a picture of a young girl with wavy pale hair and large, expressive red eyes.
He glanced up at her incredulously. "A kid?"
She turned the phone back around and gazed down at the picture with the same soft, reverent smile he'd seen on her face the night he'd overheard her speaking to the man on the phone. "Her name is Eri. She's pretty stinkin' cute, right?"
Hawks dropped his face into his hands to hide his embarrassment and groaned. "Are you kidding me? I was jealous of a kid?"
"That's what you get for spying on me, stalker," she told him with a playful tone.
He peeked through his fingers at her as he asked, "Then you're not...?"
"Seeing anyone?" She shook her head.
"Oh, thank god..." He whispered as he dropped his hands from his face and abruptly sighed in relief.
"Did you really think I would have let you kiss me if I was in love with someone else?" She incredulously asked, retaking her seat, and setting her phone on top of the table in front of her.
"I mean I hoped not, but you've been through some pretty drastic changes since we broke up, so..." He gave her a skeptical once over in jest.
"I didn't change that much!" She exclaimed in a huff.
"I know," he said, grinning back at her to assure her that he was kidding. "Are you happy now?"
She dropped her eyes to the table and sat there in silent contemplation for a moment before a small smile spread across her face and she nodded. "Yeah, I think I am. I've gotten to do so many more things than I ever thought possible with my career. Working with Eri has given me a sense of purpose that I've never really felt before. I'm more comfortable in my skin than I ever thought I would be." She glanced up at him before saying, "The only thing I've really been missing is you. It took me a while to recognize it. I think I was subconsciously trying to ignore it, maybe... But after you kissed me in the rain outside the karaoke bar, I realized just how much I really did miss you."
Hawks dropped his head and sighed. "I shouldn't have done that."
"Why?" Misaki's bemused voice asked.
He looked back up at her with a miserable expression on his face. "It made me want you back even more."
"Those dates..." She trailed off thoughtfully. "That wasn't all just for show, was it?"
He averted his eyes again. "Not exactly."
"So, what was it then?" She softly pried.
He peered back at her pitifully, slightly ashamed of his own weakness, and replied, "Mostly? My utter inability to stay focused around you. I knew when I was given that assignment that I wouldn't be able to completely devote myself to it if I was still involved with you. Every time you left me at the end of the night, the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted to go with you."
Misaki ducked her head, glancing up at him diffidently before telling him, "Why do you think I never let you take me home? It was the same for me. I'll admit, that first ice cream detour really threw me. I had no idea what you were thinking. But after the karaoke incident, I realized that you were probably just mixing business with pleasure."
"Sorry about that..." He rubbed the back of his head with a grimace.
Shaking her head at him incredulously, she shot him an indignant glare and fumed, "Do you have any idea how confused I was when you'd switch on me like that? First, you break up with me without any warning, right after my birthday, mind you. And then you just show up out of the blue and pull me into your spy plot, again, without any warning. I couldn't even talk to anyone about what I was going through after you kissed me in case the President found out and pulled me off the case." She covered her face with her hands and groaned in frustration. "You're like a little kid sometimes with your self-control issues. Honestly!"
He accepted her rebuke with a repentant nod. "You're right. About everything. And I'm sorry. I really am. For all of it. I'm sorry for breaking up with you so suddenly. I know that wasn't fair to you. And I'm sorry for springing all the spy stuff on you, which, by the way, you handled like a champ. I was pretty impressed."
"Thanks..." She mumbled, glancing up at him with a reluctant grin.
He stared into her eyes with open sincerity as he reached out to take her hand in his. "I'm so sorry for confusing you. You have no idea how horrible I felt about dragging you into all of that. I knew you were trying your best to put our past behind you, and I completely stepped all over the progress you'd made by calling out to you that time."
"Why did you—?" She started, but cut herself off as if she was unsure of how to ask him what she wanted to know.
"Why did I call out to you at the Safety Commission?" He guessed.
She slowly nodded.
He let out a heavy sigh and hung his head. "One of my biggest regrets out of everything I had to do during that assignment was involving you." Lifting his head, he gazed deeply into her eyes and continued, "But I knew, out of everyone at the Commission, that there was no one more knowledgeable, or motivated, to be able to figure out where that Nomu factory was than you. If we didn't have that, it wouldn't be possible to take down the League and the Liberation Army at the same time. Passing intel back and forth, playing spy games, that was more of a secondary convenience. But figuring out where the doctor and Shigaraki were; that was the most important piece of the puzzle, and I had to entrust it to someone I knew would be able to put it all together."
"We're a pretty good team, huh?" She replied bashfully, shooting him a timid half-grin.
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "I hope you didn't think I've been trying to recruit you all this time for your pretty face. I mean, that's definitely a plus, but—" He cut off sharply at the sight of her ironic glare. Grinning back at her, he quipped, "What can I say, I know talent when I see it."
A sudden seriousness entered her expression as she said, "Thank goodness, right?"
"Hm?" He tilted his head to the side in open curiosity.
"That Tokoyami-kun was there to save you," she elaborated reticently.
He reached up to scratch his cheek, grimacing slightly as he jokingly typed, "Is that your roundabout way of bragging?"
"I'm serious. If you had died in there..." She ducked her head as her voice broke and quietly trailed off. He swiftly drew her toward him, pulling her up out of her seat and into his lap in response to her upset. As she settled into his comforting embrace, she woefully uttered, "I swear I would have found a way to bring you back to life so I could kill you myself."
He reached up to brush her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear as he quietly told her, "I'm sorry I worried you. Thank you for always having my back, Misa-chan. No matter what."
Her damp eyes lifted to stare back into his as she lifted her own hand to rest against his bandaged cheek. Leaning her forehead against his, she slid her eyes shut and quietly replied, "Thank you for coming back to me."
Going with the flow of the moment, Hawks slid his eyes closed and carefully leaned in to gently press his lips against hers. A bright flash of sensation shot through him at the contact, unlike anything he'd felt from the many times he's kissed her in the past. When she didn't immediately pull away, he pressed them together a little firmer and was pleasantly greeted by Misaki's favorable response to the chaste kiss. The heat that had flashed through him in the beginning doubled tenfold when she started kissing him back. Her hand lifted to rest against the side of his face as her lips parted to fit more comfortably against his and she tilted her head a bit before leaning further into his embrace. He dropped one of his arms to wrap around her waist and slid his other hand into her hair behind her ear, continuing to gently move his lips over hers for a few more seconds before gradually bringing the soft kiss to a bittersweet end.
They sat there for a long moment, staring deeply into each other's eyes before Misaki leaned in to rest her forehead against his again and sighed, "I wish..."
"What?" Hawks whispered back, feeling the dryness begin to aggravate his throat again.
She softly brushed the backs of her fingers over his bandaged cheek. "I wish you would let me fix this."
"Misa-chan..." He trailed off, dropping his eyes as he picked his phone back up and typed, "If it was just my body, you know I would. But I can't afford to lose my memories. My wounds will heal."
She lowered her gaze as she laid her hand on his chest and whispered, "I hate seeing you in pain."
"It probably looks a lot worse than it feels, honestly. Central Hospital has some pretty great burn treatment procedures. I feel a lot better today after sleeping through the night—" He was halted by her hand resting over his phone and he looked up into her worried gaze.
"I'm not just talking about your burns, Keigo," she told him with subdued intent.
He calmly held her gaze as he whispered to her, "I'm exactly where I need to be to heal those wounds too."
Erasing his memory of what had happened wouldn't make it unhappen. He'd already decided after visiting his mother's empty house with Jeanist yesterday that it was time for him to stop running and face his past, and he knew that Misaki of all people would understand. Now that he was no longer tied down by his Safety Commission shackles, he was finally free to start living his life the way he'd always wanted to. He couldn't go back and change his past, but he could acknowledge it, and use the lessons it had taught him over the years to make a better and brighter future. Just like he'd seen the woman sitting in front of him stive to do, practically from the moment he'd met her. She inspired him more than he would ever be able to convey to her, and she was the only one he would want to embark on his new journey of personal atonement with.
She stared back into his eyes for a few seconds before smiling softly and conceding, "Okay."
He smiled back at her warmly as he whispered, "Thanks, Misa-chan."
Dropping her gaze, she shook her head and smiled, prompting him to ask, "What?"
"Misa-chan..." She trailed off with a nostalgic lilt to her voice. Looking back up at him, she held out the glass of water to him and said, "I didn't know how much I missed hearing you call me that until you finally said it again yesterday."
He took it with a grateful smile and finished it off before setting it back down on the table and softly replying, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I never really missed hearing my own name until you stopped calling me by it."
It was the truth. The only attachment he really had to that name anymore was through Misaki. Just like calling her Misa-chan was a term of endearment for him, hearing her call him Keigo was much the same. As a child, he'd had almost no sentimental attachment to that name. He'd usually only heard it called when his father was angry with him about something, and his mother only really used it to get his attention when she needed him to do something for her. Misaki was the only one who had ever called his name with affection. It just felt wrong hearing her call him anything else. Thinking back on it now, somehow it always had.
After a moment, she lifted herself off of his lap, glancing back at the bowls on the table and commenting, "I should warm the rest of this back up. It's probably pretty cold by now."
As she began to gather up the dishes, he reluctantly remarked, "Actually, I should start getting ready to go soon."
She abruptly halted in her task and slowly turned her head back toward him. "You're leaving?"
He gazed across the table at her regretfully. "I would stay if I could." He shifted his gaze out the window to his right as he continued, "But there's a lot of work to do out there. I can't afford to be selfish with my time right now." He turned his rueful gaze back to hers and concluded, "No matter how much I may want to."
Retaking her seat at the table, Misaki anxiously asked, "What about your injuries? Shouldn't you at least take a day or two to rest?"
She wasn't wrong, but he didn't have time to be sitting around waiting for his injuries to heal while society went to hell in a handbasket around him. Even if it was just riding a desk and tracking down leads, he wouldn't be able to rest when he could be doing something to help. "I'll be teaming up with Jeanist-san and Endeavor-san while we track down the League and try to get the situation with the escaped convicts under control."
Misaki bit her lip, shifting her eyes to the side for a moment before turning them back to him and mentioning in a hesitant tone, "Actually... I might be able to help with that."
He tilted his head to the side and shot her a quizzical look. "How?"
She let out a heavy sigh, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair as she stared down at the table and explained, "After I woke up in the hospital, I found an email that had been sent to me from the Prime Minister's office right after the raids, terminating my employment with the Hero Public Safety Commission."
Hawks widened his eyes in shock. He couldn't say he was really surprised though. He'd suspected something like that might've happened. Considering her leadership role in planning and executing the raids, it was actually a blessing that they'd let her go instead of making her take responsibility for the failed operation. Unfortunately, that also meant that she wouldn't be able to help them organize any of the heroes now, either foreign or domestic. He perked up slightly as a thought suddenly occurred to him Now that she was a free agent, it was a perfect opportunity for him to recruit her to help with their plans.
Before he could say anything to that effect though, she unknowingly cut him off. "Directly after that, I received a visit from Hebisawa Shira. She asked me to use the tracking software I developed to identify social issues for the Safety Commission and reprogram it to predict potential activity from the villains who escaped during the prison breaks."
Hebisawa Shira? He'd seen Misaki speaking with the woman very briefly at the Most Eligible Heroes auction they'd attended on Valentine's Day last year, but he hadn't known the two of them had kept in touch. Apparently, the shrewd politician had also recognized Misaki's potential and had beaten him to the punch. It was of interest to him why the councilwoman would be interested in tracking potential villain activity though... Setting that aside for later, he focused instead on the possible applications of the program she'd asked Misaki to design. Given the decline in the number of heroes and the increase in the number of villains on the street, having the ability to predict when and where they might strike would be an incredibly powerful tool for them to use to get a handle on the situation as quickly as possible, so they could focus more of their efforts on tracking down All For One and the League.
"Can you do that?" He asked, staring across the table at her intently.
She nodded. "I've only been able to work with a sample size of data from a select few villains in the police force's database, but it's looking like it might be possible. I can show you the prototype. I'm actually set to present it to the Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner later this morning."
Zeroing in on the mention of a meeting with the Prime Minister, Hawks hastily asked, "Do you think we could sit in on that meeting?"
He instantly jumped at the chance to piggyback on her presentation. After working out how to best address the situation at the hospital with the others yesterday, it was a perfect opportunity for them to pitch their plan to the government's top brass; especially with it being right before the press conference they'd scheduled to address the public later that afternoon. They were already working on creating a system of shelters using the campuses of the hero academies around the country to help cut down on the amount of area the remaining heroes would need to cover. As of that morning, the parents of the academy students had already begun evacuating to the nearest shelter, but they knew that government assistance would be required to provide the schools with supplies and to urge the rest of the public to follow suit.
Misaki shrugged and nonchalantly replied, "I'll ask Hebisawa-san, but I don't think it should be a problem. It might actually be helpful to have a hero's perspective."
He sent a quick message off to the others, giving them a heads up about the upcoming meeting before grinning back at her and saying, "Thanks, Misa-chan."
She returned his smile and told him, "I'll go get my laptop," before rising from her seat and making her way out of the dining room.
Hawks picked up his chopsticks and the bowl of cooled eggs he'd had yet to touch and hastily proceeded to finish off the rest of his breakfast. He had a feeling that he was going to need the energy. Combining the meeting he'd just invited himself to with the press conference that afternoon, it was probably going to end up being a very long day...
~*~
AN:
Phew! All caught up! There will be four more chapters of this story, and I am planning a little Christmas short for Converging once it's finished, so please look forward to that ;) There will be a third part that will cover the final arc of the manga (which is still ongoing so that should be interesting...) but I probably won't start posting chapters for that until March or April. In the meantime, I have a fantasy AU story waiting in the wings to tide everyone over until WOD returns! It will be a Misaki/Hawks AU that I'll be posting as its own little story called Once Upon A Time. I hope you look forward to it!
Thank you so much for reading ❤️
L0LSAT