Keigo honestly hadn't thought that he would miss the brunette this much. He thought he'd be kind of bummed out for a bit but then get back to business as usual- like he'd done before she was part of his life. That didn't go at all as planned though, it was like the moment she'd left a somber feeling had settled over him and would not leave no matter what he did. It was almost frightening how much he missed her. It wasn't as bad during work because it kept him busy, but when he wasn't it was like all his thoughts revolved around the brunette and what she was doing. It was especially bad during the evenings; just before he'd go to bed she'd always appear in his mind. Her sparkling eyes he was sure contained galaxies, the way she glowed when she smiled, the way she'd blush whenever he'd tease her, how she smelled like coconut with a hint of chocolate and it would make his head spin a bit whenever he inhaled it, how she unfailingly put him in a good mood just by being next to him, how his heart would race whenever she teased him back, how making her laugh was the best part of his day.
He stopped for a moment, realizing what had happened: he liked her. He liked Mariko, and not just as friends. It really wasn't surprising; it actually explained a lot. He'd always known that his attachment to the brunette wasn't completely normal- wanting to be around her all the time, wanting to show her the best parts of himself, worrying about how much she liked him and getting jealous when another man approached her- that wasn't how someone acted when they were just friends. But where did that leave him? He liked her, but he didn't know whether pursuing her would be a good idea. He didn't really want things to change; their relationship was already great why put what they already had at risk for something that might not even work out? He knew she didn't feel the same way at the moment, so at best confessing would make things awkward. He shook his head, for now, he wouldn't say anything. He would just continue to act normally around her when she got back as though nothing had changed because it hadn't. Just because he sorted his emotions didn't mean they'd changed in any way. "Yeah, everything's fine," he told himself.
Two weeks had passed since he'd made that realization, and he threw himself into his work to keep himself occupied so that he wasn't thinking of her so much. In that time, he'd discovered that during her life, Mineko Shimizu had spent much of her last years in China. Several reports indicated a woman matching her description being spotted in towns on the outskirts of the country close to the border. He'd also found out that her supervisor when she was in the military was born on August 12, though the year was redacted.
Despite his determination to keep his mind off the brunette, his thoughts would always drift back to her at some point- especially when he was stressed. Usually, the thought of her was comforting; but it just made him a bit more irritated because she wasn't within arm's reach at the moment and it definitely didn't help that she'd been way too busy to call him. He considered it a miracle if she answered his texts within the hour. He knew she wasn't doing it on purpose, she was in an accelerated training program so it only made sense that she wouldn't have that much time on her hands.
There was a plus side to her being gone though. Since Mariko barely ever mentioned anything about herself (he would admit that she was getting much better though she was going at a snail's pace, he figured he would take the opportunity of being in her apartment unsupervised to do some light snooping. Hopefully, he'd find some embarrassing baby pictures to laugh at or something.
He looked around her living room first, checking out all the picture frames he hadn't paid attention to before. He saw a picture of a young Mariko sitting on the floor, laughing with a black-haired boy. There was another picture of Mariko- she seemed older this time, around 16 or 17, taking a selfie with two boys and a girl. It looked like they were in a field. Keigo couldn't remember her mentioning anyone who'd looked like this to him. Wondering if he could find out what the story behind the photo was, he opened the picture frame and took the photo out. "Maybe there's an explanation on the back." To his delight- there was a small caption written on the back in black sharpie: Mari (15), Hayato (17), Sosa (15), and Aiko (14)- Winter Boot Camp- Etajima.
He looked around at some more photos. Most of them were of the same people he'd seen in the first two pictures. He noticed the brunette didn't have any pictures of her parents. It was like she'd grown up without any adults. At least none that she cared enough to hang a picture of.
He put the picture he'd taken out back into the frame and set all the other ones back in their original places. Deciding to be extra mischievous, Keigo decided to look in her room. What was the expression... there are skeletons in the closet?
He went into her room carefully, as if he were scared there would be a laser security system in place. Obviously, there was none, but that didn't make him feel any less apprehensive. He went into her closet and noticed the many boxes that lined the top shelf.
He pulled down a couple of them, trying to gauge whether she had anything worthwhile in them. There were mostly just receipts and financial records in the first two, and although her financial history included purchases made in a surprising amount of different currencies, it wasn't anything interesting. The other box contained some more old photos of when she was a child, most of them seemed to be from her time at elementary school- she couldn't have been more than six or seven in the photos. He wondered who had been the one behind the camera, recording all of her life's events.
As he was putting the boxes back up, he noticed a smaller box, tucked into the corner behind the wall, just out of sight unless you were eye level with the shelf like he was. Curiosity got the better of him and he wasted no time in pulling the box from the closet. He sat down on the floor and opened it up.
Keigo quickly realized that they weren't normal photos. They all seemed to have been taken at a strange camp that looked like a military base. He wondered if her parents had been in the military since there was no way a child would be let into a base otherwise. The pictures didn't include any adults though, they were just more pictures with her friends. Then there was one picture that made everything click and raised more questions at the same time. It was a photo of Mariko when she was around 13 years old. She was wearing a military uniform, holding an assault rifle. The caption on the back read: Mari (12) just advanced to Expert Marksmanship Congrats Mari!
It was clear now why she was in a military base. "But how could the government allow a 13-year-old girl into the armed forces?" It would still be incredibly unethical, but he could almost understand if her quirk were something extraordinarily helpful in combat. Mariko's was a healing quirk though; granted, it was powerful, but it wouldn't help very much on the field if she got injured. "Was she some sort of army relief doctors?" he wondered.
He looked further into the box. At the bottom, there was a set of dog tags with the Japan Special defense forces insignia etched on it. Turning the metal over in his hand, he read the information inscribed on the back.
Saito Mariko Kusumoto Hayato
A-997686 O-5131454
Blood Type: A- Blood type: AB+
SBU, DIV. 1 DIV.1
Mariko's name, ID number, and blood type were etched on the back as well as two other markings. He'd heard of both of them: The Special Boarding Unit and Division 1- the Japanese Cover Operations First Division. The military ID was scarily familiar. He knew he had seen it before, and he knew where. It had been the Military ID number of Mineko Shimizu's supervisor.
Keigo put the photo and necklace back inside the box. Looking at it made him feel nauseous. His stomach was in knots and he felt a lump in his throat. He took a shaky breath and used a feather to return the box to its original place. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to calm himself down. "How could she keep something like this from me- Why? Why would she?" he asked himself. He didn't know what to do. He either had the worst luck possible; befriending someone the League of Villains might be looking for or, someone had planted her in his life to make sure he wasn't stepping out of line. He wouldn't even be able to tell if it was the HPSC or the League of Villains; she had ties to both of them.
He prayed that it had been a coincidence, that their meeting hadn't been orchestrated by some corrupt or evil organization. She had come to mean so much to him. She was his support system, the person who could put a real smile on his face with a single gesture. He wanted their friendship to be real so badly- he needed it to be.
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Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC
Fanfiction"Like a mosaic, their broken pieces fit together beautifully" -Unknown No one can keep up with him. He's the man who's too fast for his own good. Meanwhile she's just trying to slow down. She's the woman who's lived a thousand lives. A chance meetin...
