Colors in the Dark

[18] Back to School

The day Ayami went back to school, she was peppered with stories about the Hero Killer the whole way. Every screen she saw had the same side stories about the captured "Noumu" villains from Hosu, the same story of Endeavor taking out Stain. (She still wasn't buying a word of it.) She had wanted to contact Todoroki, Iida, and Midoriya before then, but she knew it would be better to bring it up with them face-to-face.

Just then, as she was walking through the halls, a deep voice stopped her in her tracks. She turned to see the same light indigo-haired boy she had talked extensively with at the Sports Festival. "Ayami. I saw you in the news when you were at your internship."

"About the Hero Killer in Hosu?" She assumed, presuming the news story that had quite literally blown up the media.

Shinsou shook his head. "No, this one," he said before pulling out his phone, quickly typing something in before pulling up a news article. The image was of her silhouette in the sky, red feather wings mid-flap as she, holding Hawks' limp body, flew away from the charred black explosion sight. It was a little blurry, but one of the better pictures of the incident she had seen.

Then, underneath it, after skimming a few paragraphs of the article, was a video clip. It started playing automatically once scrolled down to, showing shaky footage of the roaring fire before Hecate-Ayami swooped down. Her faint cry could be heard as she disappeared behind the flames, but moments later, an orange-and-blue version of her knocked a villain back with a jet of water and red-covered fists, punching another back before instead sending plumes of fire.

She disappeared back into the flames and the person recording gasped. Then, an explosion knocked them back, camera slipping from their hands as a burst of elements send out a gigantic shockwave, extinguishing the fire. The only thing showing on screen was a red-blue Ayami, Fierce Wings active, flying Hawks away before the footage went black.

"Saving Pro Heroes and stopping villains already? Did you get hurt?"

The ginger nervously laughed, practically stuttered before she even spoke. "Oh, t-that... I was only conscious for half of it, Brizo's precognition sense led me to the scene before one of the villains attacked and I went under... and it's only complicated things since. But no, the only injuries I had were some m-minor singes and a killer migraine thanks to having my powers so suddenly overexerted. Hawks is doing great, though; back to the frontlines already. He never slows down..."

"They possessed you again? Didn't you say you were... working on that?"

"Is that concern in his voice!?" Ansaluia whispered excitedly.

Ayami flinched at his blunt words, choosing to ignore the indigo spirit for the time being. "Yes, if it wasn't obvious from the footage," she muttered, "but Prometheus worked with Gaia and, after she exhausted herself with that blast, Ares to keep both Hawks and me safe. And thanks to training with Hecate's wings all week and saving Hawks, I'm officially a Big Wings."

His blank face showed a hint of a smile. "Just don't scare us like that again, please. I can't have been the only one who worried." Shinsou left for the General Studies wing before Ayami could process that Hitoshi Shinsou just admit he was worried about her.

Smiling to herself internally, Ayami walked to 1-A's homeroom room. Inside, Kirishima and Sero were practically rolling with laughter at Bakugou's hair, which was combed down and seemed to be stuck that way as the ash blond raged at them. Okay, this is a sight I never thought I'd see.

She went to the back of the classroom to her desk behind Momo and Todoroki, though she was surprised to a see a small sticky-note inside. It was vague, and she had no idea who it was even from. It simply read, Meet in the TDL after class. Come in-costume.