Keter, the one responsible for the online crime blog and my primary source of information online, managed to collect each of the interview transcripts the police had with each of the suspects. They were all available in script format.

There were almost a hundred transcripts in total, and I’d been through most of them over the years to no real avail. Nothing that Minato or Ume Yaoroyozu had said during any of those interviews had suggested anything might have been amiss or that they might have been involved. But, that had been the case with every other suspect as well—none of them had any motivation, access to, or knowledge of the victims.

I’d returned to refresh my mind on the Yaoyorozu ones, of which I distinctly remember there being exactly four. I checked the blog for the transcripts and discovered something important—there was a fifth transcript that had been added as recently as the end of last year. The last time I’d read the four of these had been half a decade ago, and seeing something new there was jarring in a way I couldn’t quite describe.

The file size was minuscule compared to the other four; the audio recording of the interviews usually made up the majority of that information, but this one was clearly missing a recording. It was also missing the top half of the transcript; the piece that had been successfully transcribed didn’t even include the detective’s name.

“Did you see anyone suspicious when you left port?” – Ld. Detective.

“You’ll have to be more specific than that—it’s not like I know the reasons why anybody was there?” – Minato Yaoyorozu.

“Anyone carrying heavy luggage, people arguing on the docks—that kind of thing.” Ld. Detective.

“I didn’t see anything like that, but it wasn’t like I was searching for it.” – Minato Yaoyorozu.

“You didn’t see anything at all? Did you board with your eyes closed?” Ld. Detective.

“I was on vacation with my family, forgive me for not noting everything down!” – Minato Yaoyorozu.

“You had to have seen something?” Ld. Detective.

“There was a little boy with crab claws for hands chasing the seagulls, a man with blue skin and serrated elbows sitting at a café, and an elderly man with really tall ears and a mohawk having a loud conversation about his car insurance on the docks. Unless you think just existing is suspicious, I don’t know what to tell you.” – Minato Yaoyorozu.

I read through it in moments, identifying that it seemed to be a fragment of a larger conversation, and the informal tone seemed like it might have occurred on the street or outside of an official interview. The fact that it hadn’t been mentioned at all or included in any of the reports made it feel as if it had been added almost as an afterthought—or a half-remembered conversation.

The last exchange between the detective and Minato Yaoyorozu sent a spark of something like horror crashing through my body, and I was left with my heart thumping against my chest and a lingering feeling of dizziness.

A single offhand, likely sarcastic comment, in the middle of a moment of frustration between the Lead Detective and Minato Yaoyorozu. A remark that had gone unrepeated and had been buried somewhere, only to be found years later and added to the pile, long after the context and the details of the case had faded from peoples minds.

Even if it had been included, even if the police had seen this transcript and took it seriously, there wouldn’t have been anything to indicate a connection between a random blue-skinned man at a café and the abduction of Nanami Kureta—but there was a connection.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t have left earlier in the day,” Hayami said, eyes closed to avoid looking at the interior of the train.

It had been a long time since I’d seen Hayami look as uncomfortable as she did. The cause wasn’t exactly a mystery to me, at least not now. I’d asked Sajin about it a long time ago, but all he would tell me was that Hayami had once been engaged to a man named Haruka Satoshi.

I’d done what I normally did when I was curious about something, and it hadn’t been difficult to ascertain exactly what had happened to Haruka. Accidentally occurring train derailments had become far less frequent over the last century as the technology grew safer, but conversely, intentional ones had increased.

I felt a sliver of guilt bloom inside me.

Hayami had been entirely flattered that I had gone out of my way to reconnect her to a former client and was overjoyed that she might be able to further fill out her photo book of past projects. She had taken what she saw as a considerable risk by coming onto the train, and all of it had been under a false pretence.

The Tokyo trip itself had caused this problem; we would have needed to leave much earlier in the day to arrive on time via car.

“Will you be okay, Hayami?” I asked quietly.

“I’ll be fine, Hisoka—I just need a distraction to take my mind off this death trap,” Hayami said nervously, reaching out to pat his shoulder. “Tell me about Tokyo and your new friends; what were their names again?”

I listed off each of those who I had accompanied to Tokyo this morning, and Hayami nodded along with each of the names.

“Momo returned home already?” Hayami asked.

“I assume so,” I said, “Only Tsuyu and I got off in Musutafu.”

“Where did you go?” Hayami pressed, “Did the boy—Kirishima was it? Did he get his hair done?”

“He did, although it looks much the same as it did before,” I admitted, “Tsuyu also got her hair coloured while we were there. “We went to the Sky Tree; the view was very impressive.”

“I haven’t been there in years,” Hayami smiled, eyes still closed. “It’s a shame it was a day trip; the view at night is incredible.”

It said something about Hayami that standing at the top of the Sky Tree was less daunting than riding a train.

“We spoke about that,” I agreed, “We also went to a cat café; it was all very interesting.”

“Really?” Hayami said curiously. “I didn’t think you cared much about animals.”

I suppose that was true, but I never had a reason to interact with them. I’d seen stray cats and dogs, and all manner of birds, a hundred times or more, but always from a distance.

“I fed one in the café,” I said, “I think it liked cinnamon.”

Hayami opened one of her eyes and raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’ve never had a pet, have you?” Hayami wondered.

I just shook my head.

The Yaoyorozu residence was hidden behind a wrought iron fence several blocks wide. It sat in the middle of perfectly manicured grounds that surrounded it on all sides. The gate opened onto a wide driveway that split the lawn, shooting straight from the fence line up to the concrete foundation that sat at the mansion’s front.

Several stone staircases bordered the foundation, leading up to a paved area with a large fountain in the centre. The mansion itself was three floors tall, with the third floor made mostly of a single large room that sat right in the middle.

Tall rectangular sheets of glass covered it, split by wooden cross-sections, and edged by thick curtains that had been tied to the sides, the interior lights within spilling out and illuminating the area.

“They added a third floor?” Hayami said, smiling, “That wasn’t their last time.”

I pulled my attention back from the sand I’d scattered around the area and spoke.

“Momo said that we should come to the front when we arrived,” I said simply. “Shall we go, Aunt Hayami?”

“Absolutely,” Hayami smiled, leading the way down the driveway.

I returned most of my attention to the grounds and soon found a short man sitting on the porch of a small building at the back right corner of the property, most likely one of the groundsmen, given that he was situated right next to a shed that seemed to be filled with tools.

A hedge garden with stone benches sat directly behind the mansion; it could have been called a maze if not for the fact that it was only waist height. The fence I’d seen at the front of the property seemed to encompass the entirety of it, and trees lined the inside, providing a degree of privacy from those outsides.

There was a multitude of detection systems in place for security—cameras hidden in corners and within the detailing, in the shadow of an architrave, or beneath the thin balconies that littered the second floor.

The fence and the deadbolts on the inside of the doors seemed to be the only real preventative measures present. I couldn’t see any signs of electronic locks from outside, nor any external basement door.

I’d been thinking about this moment constantly, but given the nature of what I’d uncovered earlier, my confidence in them having something to do with this had been deeply shaken. I needed to know either way, and there wasn’t any way in which I could outright ask if they’d been involved.

I needed to ascertain exactly what kind of people Minato and Ume Yaoyorozu were in private, which meant seeing how they lived when nobody was watching. I needed to discover what skeletons I could while I had access to their home, and I needed to map out everything in case I needed to come back later.

More than any of that, I needed to ask Minato Yaoyorozu a very specific question—I was pulled from my thoughts as we reached the front doors of the mansion. Three people waited for us there, Momo speeding ahead to greet them first.

“Hisoka!” Momo greeted, smiling. “Miss, Higawara, thank you both for coming!”

I forced myself to smile.

“Little Momo,” Hayami said, delighted. “You’ve grown so tall—and just look at you! Oh my, you’re the spitting image of Ume.”

Momo laughed, looking slightly embarrassed, and I tracked the two adults who stepped out of doors behind her with my sand trailing along the pattern etched into the archway above. I didn’t need to look at either of them to know what they looked like; I’d known that long before I arrived.

“Hayami,” Ume said brightly, stepping forward past her daughter. “It’s been years—welcome back to our home!”

“Thank you for having us,” Hayami said, scooping up the woman’s hand in her own. “You haven’t aged a day—”

The two of them began a conversation, voices low and fast.

“Dad, this is Hisoka,” Momo said smiling.

Minato placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder and smiled.

“Hisoka, it’s nice to meet you,” Minato said kindly. “Momo has spoken well of your skills—you are another of the students that took the recommendation exam?”

I nodded, meeting his eyes for the first time—they were brown.

“Yes, sir, I am,” I said, seriously. “Thank you for inviting us into your home. I must apologize; however, I have an ulterior motive for coming here.”

Momo scrunched her face up at the wording, but Minato just laughed.

“You’re making it sound like you’re infiltrating my home,” Minato smiled, “But yes, Momo mentioned your request—we are, of course, happy to allow you to take the pictures.”

“That’s a relief,” I said, returning the smile. “I’m grateful you would speak so highly of me to your father, Momo, more so when your own talents are at the absolute top of our class.”

Minato patted his daughter’s shoulder before removing the hand.

“I didn’t say that much, really,” Momo said quickly, shooting her dad the evil eye. “We only spoke about the practical hero vs. villain test and the more recent incident at the USJ.”

“Mm.” Minato frowned, “That business with the USJ is very worrying—I’d like to speak with you about it in private at some point tonight, Hisoka.”

“Dad,” Momo said hesitantly.

“I’m not going to harass him, Momo,” Minato sighed, “I’d just like an account of what happened without the cushioning you most definitely gave it.”

“I’m more than willing to have a private conversation,” I said, seizing the opportunity I’d been planning on creating. “I’d like to ask you some questions as well—I suppose we’ll make a trade of it.”

“Fantastic,” Minato said smiling, “See Momo—why have you gone red?”

“Cushioning?” Momo said, flushed. “I didn’t lie about any of it!”

“Don’t play that card, missy,” Minato said dryly, “We both know you coached your words.”

Momo crossed her arms before turning her head away from her father.

“I imagine most of my classmates did the same,” I said simply, amused. “It’s not an easy subject to discuss with your parents—perhaps you can tell your side of the USJ events to Aunt Hayami? It might help put her own mind at ease.”

“I—of course,” Momo said, sending another glance up at her dad.

Hayami and Ume’s conversation finally broadened to include them once more, and I turned slightly in their direction—Hayami’s eyes were practically glittering; the conversation had brought a vibrance to her that I couldn’t remember seeing before.

“Let’s not stand out here all night,” Ume said, smiling. “Shall we go inside?”

“Yes, come on then,” Minato said smiling, waving them onto the doors.

Hisoka followed Hayami’s lead and smiled when Momo shot a look back over her shoulder at him. The mansion’s inside was just as beautiful as the outside, the ceiling far too high and littered with detailed ascents along the edges.

Pieces of dark furniture were pressed against the wall, a cabinet on the right side of the hall, and a more simple table on the left, with a large mirror hanging over it. I caught sight of my reflection in it as we passed by; the dark circles that hung under my eyes were easy to see, and my poor sleeping habits were obvious to anyone who understood the signs.

“When did you add the third floor?” Hayami asked as they entered a large open dining room.

“Two years ago,” Ume said, a sly smile on her face. “Minato wanted a more permanent office space to himself.”

“Hey now, that’s not how I remember the conversation going at all,” Minato laughed, eyes crinkled at the corners. “Wasn’t it you who wanted the space downstairs to extend the library?”

Ume was the picture of innocence, as she linked arms with her husband.

“Don’t tell me you’ve bought even more books?” Hayami said, raising a thin eyebrow. “Last time I was here, there were at least twenty bookshelves!”

Ume immediately threw her daughter under the bus without any hesitation.

“Momo turned out to be just as voracious of a reader as I am,” Uma admitted, smiling at her daughter. “But her tastes are far more eclectic; there’s an entire shelf of romance novels sitting right next to environmental sciences—”

Fiction next to science? Whatever system she was using to sort them needed some work.

“Mom!” Momo said, wrinkling her nose and sending an embarrassed glance at me. “Don’t tell them that.”

“Hisoka is almost as bad, I assure you,” Hayami admitted, giggling. “The number of times I’ve caught him on the computer past curfew reading the most bizarre things on the internet.”

I turned to look up at her, wary—I wasn’t sure what exactly she considered bizarre, but I also hadn’t thought I’d been suspicious in any way.

There was a basement, after all, beneath the main staircase; the gaps beneath the doors were large enough that slipping sand inside was a simple affair. Once more, I found myself nonplussed; more furniture, art pieces, and other things stored away.

I’d searched much of the mansion in the two hours we spent with the Yaoyorozu’s and found nothing incriminating. The office upstairs was home to a multitude of cabinets, all filled with entirely mundane paperwork, and none of it held any significance towards any kind of criminal activity.

There were four safe’s located in different rooms, none of which I could access that could have possessed some kind of incriminating contents, but there was no way for me to check without breaking them and leaving evidence behind.

“Do you read a lot of romance novels?” I asked.

Momo sent a look at her mom across the table, the betrayal still fresh.

“Only because—well, most fiction genres tend to be written from the male perspective,” Momo said, tugging at the table clothe. “Romance is one of the genres where it’s the opposite.”

It was strange that her answer to the question was an attempt to justify why she liked the genre; instead of explaining what she liked about it. Perhaps she was embarrassed about her reading proclivities, but I held no condemnation for her; people liked what they liked.

I took a moment to actually consider what she said, attempting to recall female perspective pieces of fiction within the genres I read, but it was harder than I initially thought it might be.

“There’s probably a disparity there depending on your interests—is it a lack of audience or a lack of authors?” I wondered. “I know of several in Young Adult fiction, but that’s more of a target demographic than a genre itself.”

“I think it’s both,” Momo decided, scratching at her cheek. “Most of that shelf mom was talking about is Romance with Fantasy backdrops.”

“Do you read a lot of Fantasy novels?” I asked, repeating the previous question verbatim to see if her answer would lead to another justification.

Was that where her actual enjoyment lay? Was Romance simply the window by which she could experience it through a character she could better identify with? It seemed a bit sad if that was the case; he’d never had the same type of problem with Fantasy novels.

“Mm.” Momo nodded, smiling. “Adventures, saving the world, helping people—fantasy has so many interesting situations that the characters interact with; I always get so caught up in it.”

I wondered if that was why she chose to become a hero in the end. Having Adventures, helping people, and saving the world—at that moment, Momo sounded so very much like Nanami.

“Excuse me?” Minato said, drawing his attention. “Would you like to accompany me for that discussion we spoke of?”

Momo looked hesitant again, but I gave her a smile that I hoped looked less like a raccoon begging for food and more of one human reassuring another.

“Yes, sir,” I said, rising to my feet.

Ume, Momo, and Hayami watched us go.

I wondered what Hayami might have thought if she’d known why I’d really come here tonight. The warmth, excitement, and affection she had been radiating would have found itself in conflict with reality. I wasn’t doing this for her; it was simply an affected purpose that acted to hide my rotten selfishness.

Hayami deserved better than to be saddled with a child like me.

“I’m sorry to pull you away like this,” Minato said genuinely, “It’s rude, I know—but I’m sure you can understand my worry.”

I closed my eyes as I followed him up the stairs. There was so much sand around us, crawling through the details carved into the walls, the gaps in the floorboards, behind paintings that hung along the stairs, a thousand watching eyes taking in every detail about the man.

“Momo’s my only child, and the attack on U.A was an unprecedented show of force from the criminal elements of our society,” Minato said quietly. “I’ve spoken with Nezu and Vlad—those are members of the faculty at your school—but neither were willing or able to give me the full story; there’s been something of an information blackout from official sources.”

We reached the third-floor platform, and Minato opened the office with a moment’s attention. I entered behind him, watching myself from every shadow in the room—the smile I wore looked as out of place on my face as it always had.

“Please take a seat,” Minato said kindly, gesturing to one of the chairs along the wall before taking the one beside it. “I won’t keep you long, I promise.”

I watched him for a long moment; the reassurance the man was attempting to provide was entirely lost on me, but I noted it down towards his character.

“I’ll answer all of your questions to the best of my ability,” I said, seriously. “In exchange, I’d like you to answer my own question truthfully, without asking any questions about why or taking any actions with the information.”

Minato noticed the change in the atmosphere immediately, although I would have assumed that anyone would have.

“You’re not here for the bust,” Minato said slowly, eyes sharpening. “Are you?”

“I came here for both,” I said. “Primarily, I would like my Aunt to come away from tonight having had a wonderful time, but I’ve wanted to speak with you before that.”

“I see,” Minato said quietly. “Very well—I’ll answer whatever you ask me, truthfully.”

“Thank you,” I said genuinely, “Please ask your questions.”

Minato took a moment to compose himself, settling back partially into the effect he’d adopted while leading me here, perhaps more comforted by the return to normalcy.

“Despite what I said earlier, I do believe Momo was pretty forthright about what happened,” Minato said before shaking his head. “Two students dead, eight more injured, and Aizawa was critically injured—those were the points I’m certain of.”

I nodded at the summary.

“That’s accurate; two boys, Koji Koda and Rikido Sato, both members of our class, were killed by one of the smaller teams of villains that had been placed in positions to attack us,” I said, before pausing. “Did Momo explain the strategy employed by the villains?”

“There was the main force and several smaller ones?” Minato spoke vaguely, but his eyes were still sharp. “Could you go over it for me?”

Checking for disparities between the two retellings, but Momo didn’t seem the type to lie to her parents outright. Whatever differences existed between our versions would be from that of perspective.

“A portal user opened a gateway into the middle of the USJ, through which a very large number of people came through; my personal estimate was upwards of one-hundred and forty.” I explained, “At least five teams of additional villains had already been placed within the different biomes inside the building, at some point prior to this.”

I’d wondered at that, at first; the main force had remained where it was, and after the Portal user had moved the students around, that main force hadn’t changed sizes. That meant they had to have already brought in the individual teams—most likely the portal user bringing them inside with more attention devoted to stealth.

“The main force was to pull the attention of the adult heroes?” Minato decided, holding his hands together in front of his face. “The smaller teams were there to kill the students.”

“Exactly,” I said, raising my threat estimate of the man before me. “We attempted to leave the building before they reached our position, but the portal user appeared within our group and displaced everyone to the kill zones.”

Minato watched silently.

“They had clearly done some kind of advance assessment on our quirks because some of the students who arrived in certain areas were perfectly countered by the biomes,” I said, frowning. “One of the teams, in particular, was rendered unable to use their quirks at all.”

“The two boys that died?” Minato asked.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “That was my fault.”

“What do you mean?” Minato said, frowning.

“I had a chance at the beginning of the invasion to join them,” I said quietly, “I was told by the instructor to leave the area and alert the rest of the heroes at U.A. I did as I was told and then returned to the USJ, but when I arrived and made my way to the biome they were in, Koji and Rikido were already dead.”

“That’s a difficult burden you’re taking upon yourself,” Minato said, seriously. “The fault belongs to the villains who chose to attack children in a school.”

“Yet even knowing that,” I said, “I still feel responsible—do you have further questions, Minato?”

“Ah,” Minato said, blinking at the sound of his name. “Did you see who was leading these villains?”

“There were two candidates,” I said, “A white-haired man, whose costume included a series of mannequin hands attached to his body, and the portal user, who appeared as a black and purple cloud of darkness.”

“Tell me,” Minato said, “How safe would you say U.A is right now?”

“It depends on the threat,” I said simply. “Those villains came to destabilize and kill All Might; the students were simply the bait to lure him out. While a large portion of the villains were captured, it wasn’t all of them. A similar attack also remains possible so long as the portal user is still free to move around.”

“A grim situation,” Minato murrmured.

“It’s worth noting that the exact same attack could occur elsewhere,” I said, providing Momo with the same defence I’d given Tsuyu. “A stadium full of people, an office building, a shopping centre or a mall, all of those would work as well as a school full of children to lure out All Might.”

“‘U. A is safer than those places,’ is the implication behind your words,” Minato said, nodding. “Are you going to remain at U.A despite the attack?”

“Yes,” I said.

“All Might claims to have defeated the main threat,” Minato said, “I don’t like to muddy the man’s reputation, but is that actually the case? Which of those present was the main threat?”

“I was not present for the battle between All Might and whoever the villain was that attempted to contest him,” I admitted, “I’ve heard several accounts of the battle from others; the main threat you’re talking about—a large muscular heteromorphic quirk user with dark blue skin, a beak, and an exposed brain.”

“An exposed brain?” Minato frowned.

“Yes, it supposedly had access to multiple unrelated quirks; super strength, super speed, impact nullification, and high-speed regeneration,” I listed off what I’d heard from the others, “Give those quirks, the exposed brain, and its inability to act without being given a direct order by the white-haired villain I described earlier—it’s safe to assume that this isn’t a normal villain.”

“All Might made a public appearance this morning,” Minato said, “He seemed unharmed.”

I hesitated for the first time here before continuing anyway.

“I cannot think of somebody better suited to fight All Might directly given the quirks I just listed,” I said seriously, “It was a very tough fight from what little I’ve heard.”

“Thank you for answering my questions, Hisoka,” Minato said genuinely, apparently satisfied with the information provided. “I believe you had a question for me?”

I nodded and stepped away from the bench, facing away from him—Minato let out a gasp as my sand surged upwards from my feet, twisting in on itself and compacting in an instant.

“A family of three were abducted on the 13th of March, 2141,” I said quietly, enunciating each word clearly. “You were questioned about this case on several occasions, and in one of the interviews, you mentioned seeing a man at the docks in Shimoda—a man with blue skin and serrated elbows which had been sitting at a café.”

A blue-skinned man, wearing a black suit, with serrated fins sticking out of his elbows, sharp eyes, and a bland smile on his face. He was sitting at a table with several others, and he followed the gaze of the shorter squat man who kept looking over at us, meeting my eyes—neither of us looked away.

“That’s the man I saw,” Minato said, studying the sand sculpture I’d built in the middle of his office. “He looks exactly the same as he did that day. I remember mentioning him to one of the investigators, but—Hisoka, that case was closed a long time ago.”

I didn’t respond, unsure how to deal with the turmoil of feeling spiralling through me—my hands were shaking.

“I actually spoke to a woman about it several years ago, a private investigator; if you’re looking for information about that case, what was her name?” Minato scrunched his face up in thought. “Keter—I could probably find the number she gave me?”

“Thank you for your assistance, Minato,” I said quietly. “That’s all I needed to know.”

By the time we’d returned to the ground floor, I’d managed to force my hands to be still through a combination of control and quirk usage.

“Are you okay?” Momo said, “I hope he didn’t say anything weird.”

Minato looked nonplussed at the confidence his daughter had in him but didn’t mention anything about what had happened. I pretended to look around the room as if I hadn’t already investigated every single inch of it.

“Not at all; I believe he is simply worried about your safety,” I said, keeping my voice level. “Aunt Hayami wasn’t misleading me about the size of your library.”

The topic cut the concern from her expression, and she perked up once more.

“We had a library at our old house as well; these are mostly from the original collection,” Momo said smiling. “Our family has been collecting them for generations now.”

“The Great Library of Alexandria,” Minato declared, nodding. “Except with far more romance novels.”

Momo pouted.

“The Great Library of Yaoyorozu,” Ume said, smiling at them. “I like the sound of that better.”

Minato smirked at his wife.

“I’m flattered to have my bust in such a grandiose library,” Hayami giggled before leaning forward and hugging Ume. “Thank you for having us; this has been lovely.”

“I haven’t had this much fun in years,” Ume said, smiling. “I would love it if you would visit us more often, Hayami.”

“Our home is always open to you, both of you,” Minato said, catching my eye for a moment. “Feel free to come to visit if you’d like to have another discussion, Hisoka.”

Hayami looked delighted with the idea of returning here in the future and was quick to accept the invitation.

“Hisoka?” Momo said, practically beaming. “You’ll be at U.A on Monday?”

“I will,” I managed. “I’ll look forward to seeing you there, Momo.”

I stepped over the threshold into my apartment and shut the door behind me.

For a moment, I stood there in the dark taking stock of everything I was feeling and trying to make sense of it all. I slumped back against the door before sliding down to the ground, curling my knees up to my chest and burying my face in my arms.

Sand-filled the apartment, crawling into every available space until there was no space left to fill.

All this time, I’d been crumbling away as my paths forward were severed one after another. I’d set out to succeed where the police couldn’t, where the heroes had given up, and where Keter had stopped after she couldn’t find the next lead to follow.

It had taken me all these years to put the pieces together, and I felt like such a fool.

The short man with the bushy moustache, the woman with long pink hair and sharp interlocking teeth, the blue-skinned man with serrated blades coming out of his elbows. A teenager with tanned skin, a pixie cut coloured gold and black. A mammoth of a man with dark skin and sunglasses. A thin man with shoulder-length blond hair and bright blue eyes.

They’d been sitting right there in that restaurant on Nanami’s birthday, watching us the entire night. My mind raced to pull up every word we’d spoken, every topic we’d discussed, and everything that was said without care for who would be listening in. We spoke about Nanami’s Quirk, her appointment, and none of us had coached our words because what was the danger in speaking about the details of a quirk in a society that was filled with them?

They’d heard us.

The blue-skinned man had been present at the Shimoda dock, the same place the Kureta’s needed to have passed through in order to end up where they had. The blue-skinned man had been seen there by Minato during the most likely time of the Kureta’s abduction.

The blue-skinned man, who’d sat watching us in the restaurant in Musutafu, had been present at the Shimoda port barely a week later on the day of the crime. He’d been mentioned in the transcript, and nobody had given him a second thought because it had been an offhand comment made by a man who’d been pushed to frustration by an incompetent investigator.

I’d looked him in the eyes, and now Nanami was gone.

Air and noise and pain tore their way out of my throat, and the sand swallowed it all like it did everything else. The pressure increased, sand pressing in against me, and when it grew too great to withstand, my body fell apart into a million tiny pieces.

I became lost, spread too thin amongst my sand, consciousness splitting, and splitting further, desperate to escape the overwhelming nature of what I was experiencing until finally, I was too fractured to feel anything at all.

I’m not sure how long I remained like that, mind turned inwards until all I could see was the dark, but when I finally began to reassemble myself, the morning light was shining through the window, illuminating the sand.

I came back slowly, almost as I had the very first time I’d uncovered my quirk, dragging myself together, piece by painstaking piece. I solidified back into existence, rising upwards in the middle of the room as it slowly drained of excess sand. Details began to fill out until once more Hisoka Higawara remained, alone in the room—the sunrise overtook the window, and as I watched it, I made a promise to myself.

I would find every single person who had sat at that table that night. I would find out what they’d done to Nanami, and then I would wipe them from the face of the planet.