Unveiled Winds || Katsuki Bakugou x Reader

Chapter 59 - Interrogation

The air was colder here. Like the walls themselves were pressing in, designed to remind anyone who stepped past the checkpoint that this was no ordinary prison.

Your boots echoed faintly against the polished concrete, the sound swallowed quickly by the dense silence of the corridor. Reinforced steel lined both sides, doors bolted and sealed with more locks than you cared to count. Cameras tracked every step. Even the air vents were barred.

And at the end of it, behind layers of glass and steel, sat Eclipse.

You and Bakugou slowed as the guards at the final checkpoint stepped aside, one swiping a clearance card, the other keeping a hand near his holster. A muted hiss filled the air as the outer barrier disengaged.

You glanced at Bakugou, his expression unreadable, jaw tight. He didn't look at you, his eyes already locked straight ahead.

This wasn't a casual visit. You both knew that.

^^

"So you've been having hallucinations?" Bakugou asked, voice low, steady.

You set your mug down, fingers tightening around the ceramic. "They don't feel like hallucinations. It's the same as before, when he got to me. My body reacts like it's real. Like it's happening in the moment, not just in my head."

Bakugou's eyes narrowed slightly, but he stayed quiet, waiting.

You hesitated, then pushed on. "What if it's not just aftereffects? What if it's... some kind of quirk awakening? We never figured out the full extent of what he could do. What if the range isn't what it used to be?"

Bakugou leaned back a little, jaw flexing. "Even if that's true, he's locked up. High security. Suppressors, cameras, guards breathing down his neck. No way he's using his quirk from in there."

"I know," you muttered, dragging a hand through your hair. "I keep telling myself that. But when it happens, Katsuki... it doesn't feel like a memory. It feels active. Like he's there."

Bakugou's stare didn't waver, his silence pressing at you until your throat felt tight. Then, finally, his jaw flexed.

"Then what are you saying?"

Your eyes snapped to him. He wasn't brushing you off, wasn't calling you crazy. Just waiting. And somehow, that was worse, because it meant you had to say it.

Your chest tightened, breath catching. But then you pushed back your chair, the legs scraping against the floor, and in the next second you were on your feet.

"Wait." You moved fast, heading straight for the corner cabinet. Your fingers trembled as you pulled it open, tugging out the stack of case files you knew he'd tucked away for you, half-forcing you to rest when you'd been too consumed to stop digging. You slapped them down onto the table, pages spilling loose, and started spreading them out.

Bakugou didn't move, just tracked you with those sharp eyes as you worked, his arms folding loosely across his chest.

"It doesn't add up," you said quickly, words tumbling over themselves. "The night of the attack, it was orchestrated. It wasn't random, Katsuki. Shadow Requiem wanted me and Eclipse to go head-to-head. Wanted everyone to see me take him down. Only—" You froze, hands braced on the edge of the table. "I don't remember doing it. At all. One second I'm fighting him, and the next it's... nothing. Just smoke. And suddenly I'm being told I won."

Bakugou's brow furrowed, but he didn't interrupt.

"And then the fire," you pressed on, voice rising, frantic now. "That wasn't coincidence. Shadow Requiem set it. They waited until everyone thought they were finished, until the focus was off them. It was an open shot, Katsuki. A chance to turn everything on its head, just like before. Just like they did three years ago. Use the media, shift the story, paint me as unstable, paint me as the problem."