Kiths

Chapter 41 - Pathway

"You should keep her close, it'll be useful for that thing"

The voice was clear and deep in my mind, yet it caused chaos in whatever interpretation I took it in. The sight of them with their white hair disassociated them from... him, but that voice fit with so many memories. While Eri was still the priority, I just wish I could have heard them more clearly... "Izumi?" Mirio snapped me out of my daze, "Sorry... I was just thinking about stuff" "That's fine, just focus on recovery."

We were currently at a central hospital, we'd already spent a night here in the aftermath of the raid. Mirio was visiting me while the others were asleep, he got discharged already since he sustained simple injuries and now was watching over Eri. I'll probably be let out next since Eri rewinded my fractures, I'm only recovering stamina to be stable again.

"I'm still shocked I got to see Fist again..." Mirio muttered under his breath. "You saw them before?!" "A while ago... Nejire, Tamaki, and I were patrolling together since we got the approval of our supervisors. It was then that we saw a huge villain rampaging down a street, and a black figure that was fighting them... that was our first interaction." I tried to remember a time when such a villain was on the news but it must've been out of our city. "They're ruthless. They will stop at nothing to get the job done, even taking a bullet." "A bullet!?" "There was a sniper, but they took the shot that was meant for Nejire and knocked them out simultaneously." "..." "That's not even it! They saved me from getting crushed by throwing themselves under it! And then they got back up! They outmuscled that giant!" Mirio had a desperate look on his face- *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring*

Mirio quickly pulled out his phone and answered the call. In the meantime, I tried to connect the dots to try and figure out what this vigilante's quirk was. I can only give up on their identity, but maybe I can try to find out what made them so strong. Their quirk is gone now, and I doubt we'll hear from them anytime soon with such a setback, but what was it?

"WHAT?! They're there? Like, right now?!" Mirio just said in surprise, "Ok, ok thanks. I'll get her there as soon as I can." Mirio then turned to me after hanging up and said: "Fist is at UA."

"At UA? Why?" "Mr. Aizawa caught them, they're recovering after a battle with Endeavor." "ENDEAVOR!?" "Yes, they want you to come quickly so that you can use your quirk."

At record speeds, we quickly gathered everything from our rooms, said goodbye to the others that were still recovering, and made our way to the train station. "I never expected to see them so soon after the raid," said Mirio after we got on our 2nd train, "I'm not sure what your quirk can do for them either... it's not healing right?" I thought about it for a moment, and then it hit me. "Memories" "Memories?" "I can try to look into someone's memories if I'm lucky." Mirio seemed bewildered at this revelation "What a useful quirk..."

After a couple of hours, we arrived at the UA medic ward, or almost... there was a crowd of people that blocked the main door. Mirio quickly asked a student why everyone was there, they responded that a hero had brought a vigilante. We tried to see if there was any way we could go through it, but no one was moving. "How are we going to go through there?" "I have no idea, Izumi. We might have to wait until they go back to class."

"That won't be necessary."

We looked behind us and saw Aizawa, he signaled us to follow him. "Why are they all blocking the door?" I asked. "For general course students and freshmen, hearing about an infamous vigilante they saw on TV being in the same building as them makes them too curious," he responded. We took a staff door and went through a long hallway marked with a lot of locations on the school grounds, Aizawa mentioned that all important areas have extra entrances in case of emergencies. Eventually, we stopped at a door marked with a Swiss cross and walked through to find Recovery Girl. "I see you've taken the staff entrance, good choice." "Is the door holding up?" "We boarded it up." "Good. Mirio, you join the others" said Aizawa pointing to the corner of the room. We now stepped through the door and saw that the rest of the big three was also there. "Nejire? Tamaki? What are you doing here?" asked Mirio. "We're here because Recovery girl wanted us to point out where the gunshot wound was, turns out there were 2 of them." It was then that I remembered what we were here for and I saw on a stretcher right beside me, an unconscious Fist.

"Don't worry they're alive, miraculously. I waited a bit before using my quirk so that they could recover some stamina, they're just sleeping now," Recovery Girl informed.

The sight in front of me was one to mesmerize, a vigilante in the flesh. All of the times I've seen them were flooding my head, from UA to Stain to the recent raid. They always seemed alluring in some sense, like we had a connection I couldn't see, something always resonated in my mind. "Izumi, your goal is to unethically read their memory to identify them." "What?" "We're more concerned about their mental state rather than their arrest, that will signify a lot. Since we can't get that helmet off, your quirk is plan B." After some thought, I nodded back to Aizawa. "Take your time to successfully do this, you're off-schedule for as long as you need."

...

With a white card like that, I couldn't fail. I gently placed my hand on Fist's helmet and closed my eyes.

Through the first reaches of the mind, I was once again falling through a spiral. Its color was dim and cloudy, it felt as if darkness actively hid everything I tried to see. Seconds passed and a subtle chill started to go down my spine, I wasn't sure if it was due to the cold or fear. It kept getting more intense as I reached the bottom, perhaps it was part of this field, and it was.