Fly High, Burn Bright

Chapter 18

I frowned at Akina in confusion, but she just shrugged, running her hand through her long red hair to untangle the nonexistent knots. There was no reason for the villain to specifically request to be interrogated by me, and I considered asking Akina if this was her idea of a prank. She'd always had a somewhat questionable sense of humor. 

"He said it himself. He even knew your name somehow," Akina pointed out, and Kagami nodded in agreement. I sighed, throwing my head back in annoyance but nodded without making any objections. I was still tired and had to stifle a yawn, but it's not like I could just ignore the villain in the interrogation room. I huffed out an exhausted breath and stretched out my shoulders a little before turning to the door, cocking my head when Kagami and Akina followed me.

"Where are you two going?" I asked, my hand already on the doorknob as I pulled it open, stepping into the hall, the two following me. Keigo, however, stayed in the monitoring room, and it looked like he was already dozing off.

"It's pretty late. I'm going home - I still need to take care of my little brother," Akina explained, and I nodded. It'd been a while since I last saw her brother - what was it, two or three years now? He must be pretty big by now. "I'm sorry I wasn't much of a help today, but if you need me again, just call."

"I need to go too," Kagami butted in, starting to lead Akina down the hall and to the elevator. "I still have my paperwork left. And Kira, try not to murder that villain accidentally, alright?"

It was just a joke - I knew that. Still, I tensed up, and my smile felt a little more forced than usual when I waved in goodbye to the two. She didn't mean it. I took a deep breath to steady myself before turning to the locked door in front of me, trying to steady my hand as I pushed it open. It scared me, the fact that the villain knew me by name and asked specifically for me. Was he still hoping he'd be able to bring me over into the League of Villains? Either way, it didn't matter. He was probably hit on the head as a child one too many times if he genuinely thought I'd ever do something like that.

I patted my sides, checking I still had my knives with me in case things got rough, and, donning a determined expression, I shoved the door open. The paralysis from the poison had obviously worn off by now - the villain was leaning back in his chair with his legs propped on the metal table, his black hair sticking out in every direction and the gruesome scars on his face making him seem to be fixed in a permanent manic smile. The squeak of the door closing behind me caught his attention, and he sat up a little straighter when he saw me enter. The cruel look in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by what seemed to be a mix of amusement and stubbornness, but I met his gaze with a cold stare of my own. 

"The princess finally arrived," he smirked, and I debated for a second whether or not it would be alright if I 'accidentally' broke his nose. I forced myself to stay calm - he was trying to provoke me on purpose, and I wouldn't let him do that, no matter how much he tempted me to give in to the cruel scenarios that I oh-so-dearly wished to turn into reality. I stalked to the table, slamming my hands onto it with enough force to make the villain flinch slightly, and leaned forward until  he had to physically shrink away from me.

"Let's start off easy, shall we?" I hissed out, getting closer and closer to the villain, my eyes shining with barbaric wishes. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him suffer, the same way that he'd made so many innocent people suffer. I wanted to make him feel the same amount of pain that he inflicted onto others, and I wanted him to be punished for everything he's ever done wrong. "Who are you, and why did you join the League of Villains?"

"Getting so personal right off the bat? Can't say I blame you," he cooed, and I had to stop myself from putting a knife through his skull. Every little thing he did made me want to watch him writhe in pain. "My name is Dabi, and as for why I joined the League, I don't see how that's any of your concern."

I pulled away from Dabi, giving him a chance to breathe, only to grab a dagger from my belt - the same dagger that I'd used on him earlier - and graze it ever-so-slightly over his neck. "It may not be my business," I sneered, "but I really don't like it when my questions are ignored, and it would be a real shame if my hand slipped right now. I won't be asking again. Why did you join the League of Villains?"

Dabi, in return, leaned towards me, pressing his neck against the blade, tiny drops of blood starting to swell where the knife made contact with skin. "My answer won't change just because the little girl decided to play with knives."

"Yeah, well this little girl won't hesitate to cut off your tongue so that you'll have an actual excuse for not talking." I dug the blade just a little deeper, the red drops growing larger with every second.

"Fine, fine, I'll talk, Kira," he drawled out, eyes narrowed in satisfaction. "But wouldn't you like to know something other than just boring old dirt on the League?"

I stiffened, tensing up when he called me by my name. There it was again. How did he even know it in the first place? I didn't want to admit it, but it scared me. Just like any other hero, I kept my real name a secret, so the fact that someone, and a villain on top of that, knew something that I kept private made me feel as if every move I made was being watched, and it felt like I wasn't safe anywhere, not even in the comfort of the home that Keigo and I shared. Agencies always did their best to keep the personal life of heroes a secret from the public, and for something like a hero's name to be revealed to someone was strictly against the policies. I shuddered slightly at the thought of what lengths the villains must've gone to even just to get my name.

"Hiroko Kira. Age twenty one. Befriended the pro hero that goes by the name of 'Hawks' at the age of five and stayed by his side ever since. Had a sister who you looked up to but failed to save at age eleven when she died at the hands of a villain. Don't want people to know about those breakdowns of yours, do you?" With every sentence, his confidence grew, and I felt myself shrink back ever-so-slightly, flinching as he stated fact after fact about me. If it had been a friend of mine, I wouldn't have been so surprised by how much they knew, but this wasn't a friend. This was a villain who I saw for the first time in my life today, and somehow, he seemed to know more about me than even my closest coworkers at the agency.

I tried to keep my voice calm, but a small falter gave me away. "How do you know all that?" I demanded, doing my best to look intimidating.

"Oh, princess, that's barely anything," he grinned innocently, like nothing was wrong, but leaned even closer to me, his eyes dancing with a cold flame. Once he was satisfied with my reaction, he pulled back, relaxing in the chair, as if the fact that he was still handcuffed didn't bother him in the slightest. "You know, I only recently joined the League of Villains, but it seems as though they're obsessed with you. Seems like they've had their eyes on you for quite a while. Three, four years now? I'll admit, I didn't see why at first, but now, I see what they meant about you being a valuable asset."

My eyes shot wide open, and I lunged forward, my palms slamming against the table with a loud echo as I did my best to regain my composure. Dabi was wrong. There was no reason for the League of Villains to be paying such close attention to me, but if he was telling the truth, then that meant my whole career as a hero was closely monitored and analyzed by the League... Just the thought of it somehow fueled me with rage. "Tell me exactly what you mean by me being a 'valuable asset' before I break all of your fingers and make you wish you were never brought to this world," I growled, glaring down at the villain, not even noticing that I was now towering over him.

"Darling, please. You're acting as if you don't already know. This whole act of you trying to be a hero is enough to make anyone laugh." Dabi looked up at me, a smug smile tugging over his scars. "You and I both know you're not suited for it."