~Enji's POV~

As I was leaving to head to my hero agency in the morning, one of the servants knocked over a mop bucket spilling water all over the floor soaking my house slippers in the process. The servant, a woman in her late thirties with a messy bun of dark hair atop her head turned ghostly pale and dropped into a hurried bow.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried, shaking in terror.

I shrugged still in a state of peace and calm from Shiori's performance the night before, "it's fine, just be more careful next time."

Shoto, Natsuo and Fuyumi looked up from their breakfast and threw me curious looks. The maid stared up at me in awe. "Th-thank you, Sir. I promise it won't happen again."

I felt a little uncomfortable with how surprised they all seemed by me not being upset about the spill. I knew my temper was a problem but had no idea the magnitude of it for everyone to be this shocked by something so small. When I looked in the direction of my children, they all looked away from me and returned to their breakfast in silence.

"...have a good day at school..." I murmured softly before heading for the door.

"...have a good day at work, Dad..." Fuyumi called after me as I reached the door. It was the first time any of them had spoken to me since I'd sent Rei away.

I felt my lips pull into a smile; it was progress. As I exited the house, the world seemed brighter and more vivid. Birds sang from the trees in the yard, I could smell the sweet floral scent of the flowers from the garden and the sun seemed to be smiling down on me. It was strange, yet comforting.

My driver seemed a little taken aback after looking at my facial expression but said nothing. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window and realized I was still wearing a small smile. Had no one seen me smile before?

"Let's stop at a bakery on the way and pick up breakfast for everyone." I suggested to my driver.

"Are you feeling unwell, Sir?" He asked curiously.

"I feel fine." I growled, my good mood starting to dwindle.

"Very good, Sir." He said no more and drove to a nearby bakery.

Since it was early, the bakery wasn't too busy. The staff looked surprised to see me. Everyone inside the establishment grew nervous as I stepped inside. I could feel my good mood slowly ebbing away. The feelings of calm and peace were leaving me, being replaced by annoyance at everyone's behavior. I hurriedly ordered a few dozen pastries and quietly exited the bakery.

"Heads up!" A familiar voice called out and I managed to lean back a little to avoid getting smacked in the face by a bundled newspaper.

"Nice reflexes." Shiori's soft voice immediately quelled the rage that had started to bubble inside of me from the annoying behavior of everyone else around me. She had a cloth newspaper bag slung over her shoulder and was about to run past me. What the hell was she doing?

I managed to balance the boxes of pastries in one hand and reached out to catch her with my other hand. She paused as I caught her by the arm and turned to me curiously. Her cheeks were flushed, I wasn't sure if it was from her sprinting around town like a madman or something else as she shyly looked away from me. "You're running again."

"I've got a deadline." She said simply. The pleasant scent of lavender and vanilla flooded my senses. It seemed she'd found the bath products I'd left for her at the hotel. I wanted to ask her if she liked them but I was too distracted worrying about her having yet another job.

"Another job?" I frowned.

"Not really, my neighbor's kid is sick, it's his route, I offered to help for the day so he didn't get fired, they need the money." She shrugged.

I sighed, "refresh my memory. Aren't there people threatening you and sending men to attack you?"

She pulled her arm from my grip, "just another Tuesday."

"Shouldn't you be a little more concerned?" I frowned.

"What's the point? If I spend my time worrying about it, I'm not really living life and even if I hide in my apartment, I doubt I'm any safer." She shrugged.

"Which is why you should move." I growled.

"I have thirty days." She retorted.

"Twenty-nine." I corrected her.

"Same difference." She rolled her eyes.

I don't know why I wanted to argue with her so badly but I managed to stop myself not wanting to cause her any real irritation. "Was the room to your liking?" I asked nervously.

Her cheeks reddened and she nervously shuffled the toe of her very worn sneaker into the sidewalk, "y-yes...thank you..." She chewed on her bottom lip a moment before speaking again, "and thank you for the gifts..."

I felt my heart stutter in my chest. Feeling a little flustered I took a step toward my awaiting car, "you're welcome."

A few passersby on the street looked at us curiously before going on their way. Shiori hesitantly lifted her warm caramel eyes, they flicked to my watch face before she paled, "ah! I'm late!" She turned and sprinted away throwing newspapers at various establishments as she ran narrowly avoiding pelting a few pedestrians in the process.

I held back a laugh as I watched her bolt away before getting into my car. My driver cleared his throat but said nothing before pulling away from the curb and heading to the agency. I had a feeling I was smiling again. It was hard not to after seeing Shiori. She was a breath of fresh air.

I got to the agency and headed to our morning meeting with the pastries in hand. Everyone was already present and seated around the large conference table. They looked curiously to the pastry boxes in my hands as I set them on the table before heading to my seat.

"Good morning." I greeted them all with a nod.

A few people murmured back a wary 'good morning'. I noticed some of the newer younger sidekicks whispering to one another. My face reddened as I caught a bit of their conversation.

"What's his deal?"

"No idea, it's weird to see him in such a good mood."

"Think he got laid?"

And with that my good mood was gone. I took my seat and my face resumed its natural scowl, "enough chatter." I growled. Everyone straightened up and a hush fell on the room.

After the meeting, I was successfully irritated and stressed and told my secretary to make another hotel reservation before texting Shiori.

E: Tonight, 11pm

Anxiously, I waited for her response. It took a few minutes, I assumed she was still terrorizing pedestrians on a newspaper route. After a moment I saw the three dots indicating she was typing, they vanished briefly and reappeared again before vanishing and reappearing. This process seemed to repeat a bit before she finally responded.

S: Okay

I frowned at my phone. What else had she wanted to say? Perhaps it was too much to ask her to sing two nights in a row.

E: I'll send you the location once I have a reservation

She didn't respond but I knew that she had seen my message. I tucked my phone into my pocket and went to meet with some of my sidekicks for a patrol of the city. We stumbled across an arm's deal in the morning that didn't take too long to clear up. We were quite busy for the majority of the day as there was a catastrophic landslide not too far away and all heroes in the area were called in for back up to rescue people whose homes had been buried.

The annoying oaf, All Might, was there but I luckily didn't see much of him. There were only a few casualties, a single family whose home hadn't been strong enough to withstand the force of the landslide. It was deeply unsettling seeing them all huddled together as they'd clung to each other in their final moments. I'd called home to check on my family after, feeling a need to make sure they were alright. None of my children wanted to speak to me so I was forced to speak with one of the maids. Once I was sure they were all fine, I felt a strange urge to call Shiori.

She picked up on the second ring. I could faintly hear the distant beeping of some kind of machine in the background and deduced she was with her son. "Endeavor?" Her soft compassionate voice nearly broke me.

Why did I call her?

"Mommy, who is it?" The childish voice of her son sounded in the background.

"A friend of Mommy's, I'll be right back." I heard her kiss the boy atop the head before she moved away, "Endeavor? Is everything alright?" Her voice had such a calming effect on me.

"Yes, sorry, I just wanted to let you know the location for tonight, same hotel, but room 1300." I covered.

"...okay...are you sure everything is alright? You sound a little upset. Did something happen?" She sounded worried.

"Nothing I can't handle." I replied, touched by her warm heart and compassion.

"I don't doubt it...but you don't have to handle everything on your own you know..." She chided.

I felt my lips pull into a smile, whether she knew it or not, she'd already helped me a great deal. Just the sound of her voice brought me a sense of peace and calm. "I'll see you tonight."

"Don't hang up." She stopped me as if she knew I was about to. Her tone sounded a little nervous.

I waited.

She paused for a moment. As I was about to ask her what she was doing, her soft lyrical voice sounded in my ear in a haunting new melody I hadn't heard before. It wasn't nearly as relaxing as hearing her sing in person but it calmed me enough to keep from dwelling on the family, we'd been unable to save. Once she finished the melody, she took a deep breath, "what do you think?"

I spoke without thinking, "beautiful."

There was a faint beep as the call dropped and I stared blankly at my screen. Why did she hang up on me?! I called her back.

She picked up on the first ring.

"Why the hell did you hang up on me?!" I growled before she could get a word in.

"I was embarrassed and I panicked!" She snapped, I could just picture the adorably flustered expression on her face and held back a laugh.

"Play it for me tonight." I smiled.

"O-okay." She murmured shyly before hanging up again.