A few days had passed since the encounter with Midoriya, but Reiji was still processing what had happened. What should have been a routine act of assistance ended with an uncomfortable realization: he had interfered with an important mechanism of destiny.
Fortunately, there were no visible consequences... yet.
Partly as a distraction, and partly on the Commission's covert instructions, Reiji accepted the invitation to a technical demonstration by U.A.'s support department. Technically, it wasn't a public event. But thanks to Mei Hatsume's direct recommendation, and his relationship with Himiko already registered in the admissions database, he was listed as a "safe" guest to enter without raising suspicions.
Reiji didn't know exactly what to expect... until the explosion greeted him from the sky.
Literally.
"GET OUT OF THE MIDDLE!!!" A high-pitched voice shouted from the top of a metal structure.
A small, out-of-control drone whizzed toward him in a trail of electrical sparks and white smoke. Reiji barely had time to activate a shield of hardened blood that covered his torso. The impact was minor, but strong enough to throw him backward and slam him into a padded tarp.
A pink silhouette landed right on top of him.
"Ugh! Perfect bounce!" Mei Hatsume exclaimed, laughing as if it were all part of the plan.
Reiji opened his eyes. His face was trapped between the girl's shoulder and chest, who seemed in no hurry to get up. Mei shifted slightly, causing her T-shirt to slide down just enough to reveal the sharp curve of her waist and the dark edge of tight shorts beneath the white, sweat-damp fabric.
"Hatsume...?" He murmured, his voice strained.
"Reiji-kun!" She said with a huge smile, finally sitting up a little on top of him, though not moving from above his abdomen, as if he were a chair or something.
"I knew you were coming! And look at you, like a damn lucky charm... just when I needed it, you showed up and saved Japan's great future inventor from having to take a break due to carelessness," she said as she moved her hands enthusiastically, leaning closer to him, not noticing how this pressed her thighs even more against Reiji's sides and how her breasts were dangerously rubbing against his own chest.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, holding back a sigh. The contact was too direct, and although he knew it wasn't intentional, that didn't make it any less real.
"Do you realize the position we're in?"
Her breathing steadied, but inside, every fiber of her body was aching to move. Or escape. Or stay. That was the problem.
"Mei," he said in a neutral tone, "you're still on top."
"Hmm?" She blinked, just noticing the silence. Then she lowered her gaze... and remained still. Very still.
The girl's eyes scanned the position she was in: sitting on his abdomen, legs spread, one of her hands resting directly on Reiji's bare chest, where the blood shield had dissolved, and the other resting just to the side of his hip.
Her face froze for a moment. And then...
"...Oh. Wow," she muttered without moving. "This... seems awkward."
"Anytime," Reiji replied in a tone somewhere between sarcastic and resigned.
She didn't move away immediately. She stared at him, as if trying to decipher something, her expression still half-blurred by adrenaline. Then, like someone falling from a cloud and landing on solid ground, she blushed slightly. Not like an embarrassed child, but like someone who finally understood that she had inadvertently crossed an invisible line.
"That wasn't the idea," she finally said, and stood up with a nimble leap, turning around as she dusted off her hands and reached for her tablet on the floor.
Reiji sat up more slowly, watching her avoid looking at him directly for the first time since he'd known her.
"Relax. Nothing happened," he said, genuinely intending to calm her... and calm himself.
"Not for you, maybe. I launched myself with a faulty drone and ended up on top of my favorite test subject. They'll kick me out of support if they find out," he joked, regaining some of his usual tone.
But his voice had a lower note. Barely audible. A crack in the spontaneity.
Reiji said nothing about it. He just followed her as she started walking toward the next station in the testing ground.
"Anyway!" He suddenly exclaimed, bumping his fists together. "That's not all I called you for! I have a ton of babies I want to test on you. Some that explode, others that enhance mobility, sensors, and one that detects brain thermal currents even though it shouldn't! But hey, if I don't test them on you, I won't be able to make versions two, three, and four. So be prepared to stay late!"
She turned around, catching her breath with renewed excitement, though her cheeks still held a faint tinge of pink. It wasn't embarrassment. It was more like a temporary malfunction she'd already fixed with a new line of code in her head. Basically a delayed response to what had happened.
Reiji ran his hand over his face, unable to stop himself from letting out a short sigh. It was going to be a long day, but he was doing it with a purpose. Mei was good at inventing, even a peerless prodigy. If she could get her to reach her full potential in the shortest possible time, she'd have a pretty good pillar on her hands.
***
The house was silent.
Reiji walked down the hallway, his body still damp, a towel hanging around his neck and his hair dripping lightly down his back. The steam from the shower still trailed over his skin, highlighting the muscles he'd developed during his years of training with the Commission. His bare torso gleamed in the dim, warm light of the hallway, and his loose, low-slung sweatpants completed a picture that was hard to miss.
Just as he turned toward his room, Himiko's door opened without warning.
She was there. Standing, leaning against the frame, as if she'd been waiting for just that moment.
She was wearing a loose, white T-shirt, probably purposefully short: it barely covered her thighs. Beneath it, a tight, dark undergarment peeked out from the subtle movement of her leg as she shifted her weight. Her hair was damp too, tangled in loose strands around her shoulders and neck, and her golden eyes stared straight at him, unblinking.
Reiji swallowed. He wasn't naive enough to pretend he didn't find her attractive. Even if that thought was a damn contradiction to everything he tried to keep under control.
"You went to U.A. today and didn't visit me?" she asked, her eyes narrowed, staring at Reiji in particular with a mixture of obsession and jealousy.
Reiji looked away for a second, just long enough to avoid returning that intensity head-on. Sometimes, Himiko spoke as if she weren't his sister, as if something inside her refused to accept the invisible barrier he tried to maintain.
"I was in a closed section; it was just a technical visit, nothing more."
"And that's stopping you from sending a message?"
There was no reproach in his tone, but something sharper. A wound that wasn't healed properly. One Reiji knew well.
"I forgot," he lied naturally.
She knew. She noticed. But she didn't confront him.
"He was just an acquaintance. He asked if he could come test some things. I'm training to be a hero; it's normal to have companions who build things..."
Himiko watched him silently for a few seconds. Her gaze wasn't one of anger or blind jealousy. It was something sharper. Quieter.
"Companions?" she repeated in a low voice. "Is that what you call them now?"
"What else would I have to call them?"
"That depends... She's a companion, right?"
Reiji narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest while he still felt the steam from the shower evaporate from his skin. The conversation was going fast, and he didn't know if he wanted to keep winding it up. But she wouldn't accept any more lies either...
"Yes. So what?"
"She's pretty?"
Reiji took a second before answering. Not because he didn't know the answer... but because he knew none of it would defuse what Himiko was building.
"It's not that kind of relationship. She just helped him with some artifacts."
Himiko gave a short, nasal, mirthless laugh.
"Yeah..."
"Why do you ask that?"
She looked down for a moment, then leaned forward. Her white T-shirt shifted slightly with the movement, stretching just a bit, and the bottom hem folded down just enough to show more than it should. Her bare legs, carelessly crossed, seemed so natural in the scene... which was precisely what made it dangerous.
"Because I want to know where I stand with you," she said bluntly.
Reiji swallowed. Again. He looked away and realized where they were. It was late, the hallway was dim, and her parents were probably already asleep... But he definitely didn't want to have that conversation. Much less here. Much less so.
"We're in the hallway, Himiko. Our parents are asleep," he murmured, as if to get it over with.
"So you'd rather we go to my room?" She answered without hesitation, with a crooked smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
He ran a hand over his still-wet face. "Himiko…"
"What? Aren't siblings supposed to talk alone in their rooms? Or is that dangerous now, too?"
Her tone wasn't provocative. It was sincere. Fragile, even.
That made it even worse.
Reiji closed his eyes for a second. His mind trained for infiltration missions, combat, psychological torture… and yet, he had no idea how to get out of a conversation with a girl he loved more than he should.
"I care about you, Himiko. That won't change. But what you're feeling now…"
"It's not new."
He looked at her, finally. Straightforward.
"No, but it's still complicated. You know why."
She didn't back down. Not physically or emotionally.
"What if I don't care? What if I want to live this even though it's wrong?"
"Then the problem is me..." Reiji said quietly. "Because I do care."
Silence.
She watched him for a few more seconds. He looked fragile... on the verge of breaking, as if his heart had been broken, and it probably had.
"I don't want you to avoid me anymore," she said finally. "Or to shut up when I look at you like that."
"I'm not avoiding you. I'm just trying not to hurt you."
"You already do, Reiji. Every time you pretend nothing's happening."
And he, without words, without excuses, without the strength to lie to himself, lowered his head.
"Good night," he whispered, and stepped back, closing the door to his bedroom.
Reiji stood there, the water in his hair dripping onto the wooden floor.
Wanting to say something. Anything. But he said nothing. He had failed from the moment he let his obsession direct itself toward him, not now... Not even when he asked for blood, long before all of that.
The idea of having someone always there for you was... Intoxicating, but without considering the consequences, it all became a joke in bad taste.
He sighed and returned to his room; thankfully, it was all over. His mind was spinning, but there was nothing he could do at that moment.
Except for the vibration of his phone, one he knew quite well, and at the moment he needed it most.
'Although a double life is complicated, it's also very useful for clearing the mind... What do they want this time?' He thought and approached. It was a minor mission, but they asked him to do it immediately. A smile spread across his face.
Getting some fresh air would help him think...