𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐈𝐑! ❀ 𝐊. 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐌𝐈 [ˢʰᵒʳᵗ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ]

16. 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙛𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨

Kimika had been through horrible things in her life. There was no questioning this fact. She was raised as a killing machine from the age of four. She'd been shackled and chained and locked up for most of her childhood. She murdered many people with the knives she still has to this day. She was kept from the world until she was eighteen years old, when she and Keigo were sent on their first mission.

The details of this mission are kept hidden from many officials working at the HPSC, for reasons known only to the Madam President. Rumor has it, the two of them did their job so well, even the higher-ups could not finish watching the film. At the end of their assignment, the report of the agent evaluating their performance, Kenzo Hirose, included a scene in which the two of them, covered head-to-toe in evidence of a battle, simply marveled at the moon together.

Looking back on the moment mentioned, Kimika couldn't help but smile.

Sure, she had been through horrible things, but there were also some good moments she could never forget.

Like the first time holding hands with Keigo meant something more. It was that night-- the night after their first mission. After they'd murdered people for a purpose they didn't even know, they stared up at the moon together and confessed. It was wordless and subtle, but it was a confession nonetheless.

Then there was the instance in which, as a newly liscenced hero, Kimika had made someone smile. It was a simple bystander who had seen her, in her brand new hero getup, capture a roaming villain, and smiled. The man, just a simple citizen, cheered her on and asked for her hero name so he could tell all his friends and family how awesome she was. Kimika humbly told him, wondering how a girl like her had simply touched the villain to take him into custody, could be such a marvelous hero.

She liked seeing him smile. She liked seeing them all smile. Each time she saves someone or captures a criminal with merely a brush of her fingertips, she receives cheers and yells that she could never dream of hearing. Even though she could never find the courage to talk to them in length or return the grin, every night as she lay in bed, she thought of their happy faces.

She hoped she could continue being a hero that would make people smile.

Little did she know, a little girl was already plastering her walls with posters, shoving her closet full of merchandise, and filling her shelves with action figures. Little did she know, Vanish was this little girl's hero.

Little did she know, this little girl wanted to be just like her.

┌── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┐

𝚏𝚒𝚗.

└── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──┘