Requiem of the Broken

Epilogue

Kirishima and Mina walked into the familiar office of Nezu. Nezu was seated in his seat, looking over documents a grim expression on his face. Or so he guessed, Nezu's animal features made it difficult to guess sometimes.

"Please take a seat," Nezu said to the two of them as they entered.

When they were seated, Nezu continued.

"I called you because it was very important. As you are painfully aware, your failure to disclose information regarding Toru Hagakure has been under investigation." Nezu said paws clasped together in front of him.

Kirishima felt Mina's hand grip his painfully.

"I have argued to the best of my ability that your failure is not as serious as they made it out to be, but the fact remains that if you had come forward, certain things might have been avoided. At the very least, you would not have been injured." Nezu continued.

Kirishima felt Mina start to tremble.

"I have managed to persuade them not to have you arrested, but there were insistent on some form of punishment. So... I am afraid I must ask you to hand over your hero license." Nezu asked gravely.

It felt like he'd just been sucker punched, he felt breathless, and when he looked at Mina he saw she had gone pale, and he feared she may be sick.

"This is the best I could do. I'm sorry." Nezu said, and he sounded genuinely pained.

Still shell-shocked, Mina put a shaky hand into her pocket and pulled out her wallet. She looked down at her license and then slowly withdrew it. Then looking as if she might faint, dropped it on Nezu's desk.

Nezu took her license and put it in his desk.

"It's not permanent, but it will be a very long time until you are reinstated. I'm sorry I couldn't do more." Nezu said.

"You... you did the best you could..." Mina managed to say, then she stood up and walked out of the office, Kirishima behind her.

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Kirishima awoke gradually, he habitually reached out for Mina but when he couldn't feel her he opened his eyes. The bed was empty, and by the looks of it, she hadn't stayed in bed long. Panic shot through him and his adrenaline started pumping. He scrambled out of bed and not bothering to dress ran into the living room. No sign of her, he checked the bathroom to equal futility. He ran back into the living room, his panic increasing when he felt a draft. He looked to the door leading to the balcony and saw it was cracked open and Mina sitting on a chair. He let out a sigh of relief and took a few moments to calm himself before heading to the door and opening it.

Mina didn't react at all to his presence, just continued to gaze out across the city in the early morning in her night clothes. He pulled up a chair and moved it beside her, and took a seat.

"How long have you been out here?" He asked, leaning forward to look at her face.

She was completely expressionless, just a blank look on her face as if she wasn't all there.

"dunno..." she mumbled.

"Well come inside and let's get something to eat," Kirishima said reaching and taking one of her hands.

She didn't resist him, but she was like a robot. Mechanically going about her routine with no variation or deviation. Eventually, she went and laid down on the couch, and with nothing else, he went and laid down with her. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her close. He was both relieved and happy to feel her snuggle into him.