***

Feelings are confusing, that was one thing that Hiromi was sure of. With the case of the Azure Messenger wrapped up, she thought everything was going to go back to normal. It was a shock to find out that the person who was the Azure Messenger was someone that they thought was a victim, Sasaki. Sasaki was good at acting, that's for sure. Dazai had apparently known the whole time which shouldn't be too surprising.

From what Hiromi had been told, Dazai asked Kunikida to come to the abandoned hospital where they had got their first lead on the case. Sasaki revealed who she was to them and ended up dying. She had been shot by Rokuzo who had come to the hospital after reading the email that was sent to Kunikida by Dazai telling him to come to the hospital. Rokuzo... Ended up being shot by Sasaki before he shot her back and he died on that day.

It wasn't hard to see that Kunikida had been saddened by the event. He tried to carry on like normal, but you could tell that he wasn't exactly the same. Hiromi had found out about Rokuzo dying from Dazai. She had no idea what to feel about the news. She and Rokuzo fought... A whole lot. They had fought ever since they had first met. But it wasn't like they hated each other. It was more like mindless bickering. They just liked to annoy each other. Kind of like Dazai and Kunikida in a way.

The girl didn't cry when she heard the news. She wasn't even crying on the walk through Yokohama that she had been taking. All she felt was just... Numbness. There was part of her that was sad about Rokuzo's death though it was overshadowed by her confusing numbness. It wasn't like she and Rokuzo hung out every day and treated each other like best friends. It was far from that. They annoyed each other more than anyone else was able to. Despite that, there was still this unspoken connection there. Hiromi wouldn't call it love, not at all, she would never love him. One thing you could call it would be... Respect. There was mutual respect between them. That was the best way to describe it.

A sigh escaped Hiromi as she dragged her feet behind her, walking toward the swings of a park she had ended up at. As soon as the girl sat down, she just stared off into space. Hiromi had been to this park many times. She would usually frequent it with Dazai and/or one other person whenever she was younger. It was dark and kind of cold. She was glad that she had made sure to put a jacket on before she left her Agency dorm. The feeling of her phone buzzing in her pocket caught her attention. She got out her phone and saw that it was a reminder. The title of the reminder made her eyes widen in shock. The title read, "First day of UA."

That's right! She completely forgot about it. The case had taken up most of her attention that she didn't even think about UA. The reminder caused nervousness to build up inside her. She wasn't prepared in the slightest. Well, she wasn't prepared mentally. Hiromi had all of the supplies that she needed and she made sure she sent in the form that she made her hero costume with.

Now that she thought about it, this was the very first time that she would be going back to school. The last time she went was when it was discovered that she had an ability. Hiromi had obviously fallen back in her schooling because of all of the events in her life. It was hard to get proper schooling when your parents gave you away to people who used you as a weapon... It's been a while since she thought about that event.

What she had thought about actually happened though. At one point, Hiromi's parents couldn't stand having her around anymore. They didn't want a 'monster' and a 'demon' as a daughter anymore. So, what they did to help their problem was they found a group of horrible men. They sold illegal weapons, and drugs, and were even part of a human trafficking ring. Her parents had told them all about their six-year-old daughter and her ability, telling them that they were willing to give her to them if they were paid handsomely for it. Her captors had used her ability to take down anyone that opposed them, they used her ability to help them on jobs, they used her ability as a weapon to kill.

Anyway, once she and Dazai had ended up at the Agency, it was found out by the ADA members and the President that she hadn't been going to school. They had all taken the liberty to teach her themselves. What was it going to be like going back to actual school? Hiromi dreaded to think. All she really knew about it was that it could be very boring sometimes. Then again, anything would be boring compared to her life with the Armed Detective Agency.

While the girl was lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice someone sneaking up behind her. The sound of footsteps getting closer and closer had fallen on deaf ears. The only way she knew that someone had approached her was when she heard the voice of someone saying, "Well, if it isn't the Lightning Beast." There was no need for her to turn around to figure out who it was.

"You know that I don't like that nickname," Hiromi glanced over her shoulder to get a look at the person, "Chuuya." That's right. The person who had spoken to her was none other than the Port Mafia executive, Chuuya Nakahara.

It might be a little surprising that Hiromi would know someone from the Port Mafia. Though, if you really took a look into her past, you wouldn't be surprised at all. The girl had actually joined up with the Port Mafia before Chuuya ever joined. She had been 'saved' from the men her parents sold her to by Dazai. Her captors had apparently done something to piss off the Port Mafia and Dazai and a team of shooters was sent. They were shocked to find a little girl standing in a room with bodies on the ground around her, bodies burned beyond recognition. Hiromi had been taken into the Port Mafia and the Port Mafia boss had put Dazai in charge of her, hoping that he would teach her to use her ability correctly and to nullify it so a repeat of what happened to her captors didn't happen again. Hiromi had been eight when she joined.

When Chuuya had met Dazai and Hiromi, he had been shocked to find out that a child as young as her had joined the Port Mafia. Chuuya was probably the only one to treat her like the child that she was. The two had grown close when he joined the Port Mafia, much to Dazai's annoyance. Chuuya had been the other person to take her to the park they stood in now.

Sitting in the swing beside her, the man asked her, "What are you doing out so late at night? You do know that some creep could be following you around and could try to do something to you." Chuuya went on to talk about the dangers of walking alone at night. Hiromi just stared at him with a bored expression

If there was one thing that she didn't miss about him, it was his constant lectures. It was one of the downsides of him treating her like her age. There was no doubt that Chuuya believed that she could handle her own during a fight. He had full faith that she could beat up whoever or whatever was attacking her. That didn't stop him from worrying about her though.

Not wanting to hear any more of the lecture, Hiromi responded to his earlier question, "What I'm doing out so late is trying to get my mind off of everything," The desired outcome had been achieved. Chuuya had stopped his lecture to give her a questioning look. Hiromi took this as a gesture to talk about what had been bothering her. She didn't want to talk about what happened with Rokuzo just yet so she decided to talk about her worries about school. "I got into UA and I start tomorrow," This had certainly surprised Chuuya. He was aware of the fact that she hadn't been to school since she was younger. Though, his surprise was probably more directed at the fact of where she was going to school. "I'm just worried, I guess. It's been so long since I went to school and this isn't some ordinary school. This is UA... A hero school."

No matter how many people Hiromi helped, the feeling of not actually being a hero plagued her. Sure, she helped people. She stopped bad situations from happening, like the bomb threat that they had just dealt with. Those were the actions of a hero. But a true hero wouldn't kill someone. Hiromi had killed someone. Hell, she killed more than one person. The people she killed were horrible and they had tormented her for two years of her life, but that didn't mean that she had to kill them.

"Stop that," Chuuya's voice cut into her thoughts. Hiromi blinked in surprise, turning her head to stare at him. He was giving her a stern look, "Overthinking isn't going to help you. It's only going to make you feel worse," Well, there definitely weren't any lies in that statement. "You might not feel like you don't deserve to go to a hero school, but you're lying to yourself. If anyone should be a hero, it should be you," Hiromi couldn't bring herself to say anything. He sounded so sure of his words. "Now, onto more important matters," Wow, he changed the subject pretty fast. "Are the Detective Agency and that waste of bandages taking care of you?"

There was no stopping the laugh that came from Hiromi. Oh, how she missed the nicknames that Chuuya and Dazai had for each other. She nodded, "They are."

"That's good," Chuuya looked like he was going to say more when his phone suddenly beeped. He got it out and sighed. "Looks like I have to go," He stood up and started to walk away. But, before he did, Chuuya stopped and turned to the girl, "Remember that if you ever have a problem with any bastard come to me about it. It doesn't matter who they are, what time it is, or where they are, I will take care of them."

There it was. The overprotectiveness that he showed to the girl. Hiromi grinned at him, "I'm pretty sure that I can take care of them myself."

"I know you can," Chuuya stated. "That doesn't mean I can't beat the shit out of them first."

Another laugh, "I'll keep that in mind." Hiromi told him. The two exchanged goodbyes and Hiromi was left on her own on the swings. Glancing up at the night sky, Hiromi allowed herself to take a deep breath. She was still pretty worried about UA, but she definitely felt better than before. Maybe that was all she needed. Someone to talk to.