Mr Angel: Hawks x Reader

Chapter 20 - Why Don't I Know You?

"Yes? Do I know you?" her green eyes were almost as dull as the last time I saw her.
"Don't mess with me Abbea... We've been best friends since I can remember! It's y/n!" I fought back tears.
     "I don't know a y/n. I'm sorry, but you're mistaken," her voice was as dull as her eyes.
     "You're kidding... They messed with your beautiful orange hair and your memory? I swear when I see that-" Hawks squeezed my hand.
     "Sorry for the trouble. My fiancé lost a friend who looks a lot like you very recently. Excuse us," he bowed and pulled me out of the room.
     "She- They- They've ruined her! Hawks I-"
     He didn't say anything. Instead, he wiped my tears as best he could. Then, he carried me bridal-style out of the building. I didn't know what to say, so I just sobbed instead. Tears steamed down my face endlessly, even when I had a pounding headache. He still didn't speak either, he just carried me. We walked to my mother's car, and when she asked what was wrong, he told her I didn't want to talk about it.
     During the car ride, he sat with me in the back. The whole ride was silent. Not even my mom broke the silence to make a distasteful dad-joke. She just drove, and I just laid down in Hawks' lap, and he just ran his fingers through my hair. And then I let exhaustion relieve the pain of the bitter sting of the Bea, and I fell asleep.

———

     "You saw her!?" Jiro, Momo, Mineta, and Kaminari sat around my dining room table, wide-eyed.
     "Oh, was I supposed to do that too?" Shinsō pointed back at the other four. "Ahem- You saw her!?"
     "Yes, a week ago. Also, I swear I didn't invite you and your stupid ass voice impressions Shinsō," I glared at him, eyebags and all.
     "No, you didn't. I just know the right people," Shinsō gave Kaminari an obvious glance.
     "I'm not gonna get mad at Kaminari, I know you forced him to comply."
     "Not the only time either," he smirked at Kaminari, then looked back at me. "And I know, I just wanted to see if you reacted.
     "Screw you," I scowled.
     "Sorry, I'm taken. Also, aren't you engaged? Tanaka-san."
     "Huh? Who told you about Tanaka-san!?" I slammed my fists against the table.
     "So it's true?"
     "June- Whatever that bitch told you, it's twisted!"
     "As much as I enjoy watching Shinsō mess with you, we should get back to Bea," Jiro motioned to the papers laid out on the table.
"He's not... No, you're right- I know that it was her. Her hair has been dyed blonde, and she doesn't remember me at all."
"Or maybe she's pretending not to remember," Mineta guessed.
"But why would she lie?"
"Maybe she had to. The room could've been bugged. Why else would Hawks have covered your mouth before you could say undercover?" Kaminari shuffled the papers.
"How did you know that...? June... Is she just relaying all our conversations to everybody I know?" all my friends grew quiet. "What?"
"S-so! Hawks must've known, right?" Momo interjected, "That means, if they were somehow using Bea, they were using bugs to make sure she doesn't pull any stunts. I mean, they have a lot of information on her quirk, and in order to properly analyze it, she couldn't be on any mind altering medications, right?"
"I suppose you're right, but my interaction wasn't in the assumed testing lab, so they still could've drugged her."
"Based on the types of tests they ran, there's no way they'd risk putting her on drugs. They would mess her up to much to get the results they needed. Look, all the blood tests show that she's in perfect physical health. It looks like they even ran a few drug tests as well."
"Why would they do all that?"
"Making sure she isn't messing up her health while they still need her. She's making them these bracelets after all," Momo placed her hand on the official prototype design I had snatched from my mother's office.
"But why Bea?"
"We already established that her quirk could be just as effective at quirk manipulation as the bullets made from Eri's blood. Everything we've estimated up until now is lining up."
"It still doesn't make any sense... Nothing was happening to Bea after her step-mom died, not until four months ago..."
     "Maybe they didn't realize how valuable she was to them back the-"
     "Let's just talk about the kidnappers' business front," I grabbed the document June had typed her research on.
     "Right... Beads & Buttons Co. founded by Takeda Megumi. She's 54 years old and currently unmarried. She was announced legally blind approximately eight years ago. She has a biological daughter named... Takeda Abbea!"
"Abbea? But her biological mom died before she turned one! There's no way..."
"Maybe she was ado-"
"Not a chance. Bea was questioning it herself a couple years ago, so she did her own research, and her real father's name and her legal surname are written on her birth certificate. Her biological father is still alive, but he's been a lost cause since her step-mom died."
     "So a woman, who has somehow made it seem like Bea is her biological daughter, is the owner of the company that kidnapped Bea? Holy shit, that's a lot to take in," Jiro held her head in her hands.
     "I guess so... But I'll be bombarded with questions if I go back to the office building, so how will we get more information?"
     "Why don't you ask Haw-"
     "My mom might be able to get a meeting with her somewhere other than the office building!"
     "Avoidant much..." Jiro rolled her eyes.
     "That could work! But how are you going to convince your mom without her asking questions?" Momo asked.
     "She won't. Well, not about my requests anyways."
     "You still haven't told you parents about Bea?" Kaminari turned from the files.
     "I just have a deep-rooted feeling that it's not the right time to tell them... It's selfish, but I can't shake it."
     "We understand. Hopefully there's another day we can meet up while school's in session," Momo picked up the papers and organized them into a neat stack.
     "Right... Hopefully."