Mariko didn't remember much from her stay at the hospital. She knew that she was feverish for a very long time and that Midnight, Present Mic and Eraser were there. From what Midnight had told her, Recovery Girl also visited to help with the treatment.

Mariko had a lot of very clouded, foggy memories of people around taking care of her. She remembered the faces of the nurses who monitored her health, giving her more anti-fever medicine whenever needed, making sure that her organism is getting enough nutrition straight to the veins.

She recalled Midnight feeding her an actual, incredibly tasty meal and helping her drink some jasmine tea, which she loved. She even remembers Present Mic with Eri, who came to visit her in the hospital, when the fever had fallen just enough for Mariko to open her eyes and not get an instant migraine from the daylight.

But she cannot tell if the memory of Aizawa placing a cloth with ice cubes inside of it on top of her burning forehead was true or not. It felt so real. She could even recall the way she turned her head to look at him in the dark room; if the memory was real - he did not say a word, just helped her knock down the fever, gave her some water, and made sure that she is wrapped in the duvet to keep her body warm.

Before she was dismissed from the hospital, she had been scheduled for a brainwave check.

She sat down on a chair while a doctor put a weird looking helmet on top of her head.

'Do I think of something specific?' Mariko asked her.

'For now, just sit down and think about whatever you want, then we will ask you a few questions, but do not stress yourself over it.'

'Alright,' she nodded and placed her forearms on the sides of the chair.

The doctor secured the helmet on top of her head and walked to the door a few meters to the left of Mariko. A while later, she saw him through a glass pane in front of her, along with another hospital worker. The doctor tilted his body towards a small microphone, then pressed a push-to-talk button and Mariko heard his dry voice:

'Please relax, we will start now.'

Mariko showed the man a thumbs-up and looked to the right of her, glancing through a window at the outsides of the hospital. It was a windy and chilly day, a few days before the Christmas Eve.

She turned the head towards the doctors and noticed that the man is showing her a weird picture.

'What do you see here?'

She frowned, examining the black splash of paint on a white piece of paper.

'A butterfly upside down?'

'Ok. In here?'

'Looks like some animal with hooves, maybe a horse? Oh wait, more like a giraffe with it's head low.'

'Alright. Please relax again.'

Mariko nodded and looked around the room, which was pretty much empty, excluding the chair she was sitting on, another chair for a doctor, as well as the device to which the weird helmet was plugged into. She sighed and tapped her fingertips on the armrests of the chair. Mariko looked outside of the window again and started thinking about Eraserhead.

'Was he really cooling my fever down that night?'

She grasped her fingers together and put her hands on her belly, visualizing his handsome face.

'God, I love his stubble so much,' she admitted, remembering the picture of Aizawa in a suit with his hair tied up in a messy bun.

She heard the door opening next to her, forcing her out of her dreamy thoughts.

'What were you thinking of now?' the doctor asked with a soft expression on his face.

'I... I was thinking of my crush.'

'It figures, higher brain activity, but nothing out of ordinary.' He winked at her and she blushed slightly. 'We are done, everything is fine now. There is nothing to be concerned of.'

'Thank you, doctor.'

The man removed the helmet from the student's head and she bowed to him and the person behind the glass, then left the room. As she walked through the entrance door, she noticed Midnight waiting for her in the lobby, dressed in her casual clothes.

'Kayama!' Mariko called and ran to the older woman and gave her an unexpected hug.

'Oh!' She hugged the younger woman back. 'Hi, how are you feeling today?'

'I'm better than ever.'

'Good. There is one more thing that has to be done,' Midnight whispered to Mariko's ear. 'That's why I came to see you now.'

'Oh?'

'The police is investigating the kidnapping and it turns out that the warehouse in which you fought villains, had a surveillance system.'

Midnight looked at Mariko's eyes, observing as she raises the inner corners of her eyebrows.

'Am I going to prison for engaging in combat?'

'No, no, sweetie.' She brushed her cheek. 'If the retrieved footage clarified anything, then it had to be the fact that you were acting in self-defense. Don't worry about that,' Midnight explained as she led Mariko to the elevator. 'But the one case remains. You were insisting, ever since you've escaped the warehouse, that the Tsukisaku boy is one of the victims, right?'

Mariko opened her mouth and closed it right after, feeling her heart speed up in fear. She felt a pull as the elevator went to one of the top floors.

'But he is, it's...'

'I believe you, Mariko,' Midnight assured, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. 'It's just the police that wants to ask you a few questions. We are all on your side.'

'OK,' Okaido nodded and frowned, dropping her gaze to the floor.

'That being said, I haven't said a word to you, just escorted you to the police, right?'

'Of course,' Mariko confirmed.

'Good.'

Both of them heard a ding and a few seconds later the door of the elevator opened, revealing a long, hospital corridor. At the end of the hallway, Mariko noticed two police officers, who immediately turned towards her and patiently waited as Midnight escorted the patient to them.

'Good afternoon,' Mariko greeted, bowing before the civil servants.

'Good afternoon, they responded with a bow. 'Please follow us.'

They entered the nearest room and as soon as the second officer closed the door, the first one requested Mariko to sit down. As she sat on the bed, she noticed Aizawa standing in a corner of the room, leaning against a wall.

'We have discovered a piece of evidence that does not work in your favor, Okaido.'

'How so?'

'You were assuring us that Tsukisaku Ejji has been one of the victims, but it seems like he was with the party that kidnapped children.'

'What makes you say that, officer?'

The policemen looked at each other with neutral expressions and then turned their heads towards Mariko.

'He was not tied up and he was in the building long before you were transported there along with the two other children.'

'Can I ask how do you know?'

'There was a surveillance footage.'

Mariko took a long breath in, then continued:

'Video will not confirm if the boy got manipulated into joining them, or not. But I know him for a longer time, he is not a bad person, he is just misguided.'

'Misguided? So he was with the villains in the end?'

'I-' she opened her mouth and understood her mistake. 'Officer, please. He was just as badly wounded as I was and if he was bad, I would not be sitting here with you today. He was ordered to kill me and he refused to obey.'

The police officer nodded slowly, then looked at his knees, kicked an invisible particle of dust with the tip of his shoe and looked back into Mariko's eyes.

'I am sorry, Okaido. The law is law. He is an adult and has to take responsibility for his actions. We need to arrest him.'

'But-' she started, but Aizawa placed a hand on her shoulder, as the police looked at the young woman, while preparing to leave the room. 'I understand,' she corrected herself and dropped her head, shutting her eyes.

She clenched her fists and felt Aizawa's touch tighten on her shoulder. The tears burnt her eyes and a lump appeared inside her throat.

'Can I at least see him before he gets arrested?'

Shota looked at the police officers, who froze mid-step towards the entrance door.

'It's possible,' replied one of them after a long pause.

She stood in front of another door to a hospital room, her heart pounding inside her chest. Eraserhead, Midnight and the two police officers were right behind her. Mariko placed her forehead on the surface of the door and sighed heavily, then knocked on the wood and entered the room.

'Tsukisaku, ho- what are you doing?' she started but saw the man tying up his shoes.

'I'm preparing to leave with the police,' he simply responded.

'How do you?'

'Know?' he interrupted, standing up. 'You reap what you sow,' he explained and looked at her seriously. 'I have been expecting this.'

'I told them that you weren't a part of that,' Mariko said quietly.

'Don't lie to the police, Okaido. Not when you want to become a hero,' he advised and then the door opened. The police officers stepped inside and Ejji just raised his both hands, submitting willingly to the civil servants.

Mariko couldn't find any words to say in that situation. Thoughts were racing through her head and none of the ideas that she had seemed to be able to help the boy out. She looked at him with a worried expression on her face. He turned his head towards the young hero and smiled slightly.

'I told you. You already saved me. Maybe we will see each other again. Take care, Mariko.' With that, he followed the police officers, leaving Mariko with watery eyes.

They walked all the way to the end of the corridor, where the elevator was. They stepped inside and turned towards the hallway. Mariko raised her hand in a goodbye gesture and watched the young man do the same thing, as the elevator closed behind him and the two police officers.

The woman left the, now empty room and looked at Aizawa, then Midnight. Without a word, Kayama hugged the girl and rocked her to the sides, patting her back. After a moment she let go of her and lifted her chin with her two fingers.

'You did all you could, Mariko,' Midnight assured.

Okaido nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

'Now, now. Don't cry. You will get yourself dehydrated. Let's go to the school.'

'Can we take the stairs? The doctor advised me to push through the pain a bit to get the leg to it's previous state,' Mariko requested, following behind the two teachers.

'Sure,' Midnight answered and opened the door leading to the stairs, letting Mariko and Aizawa through.

The student glanced at the man from the corner of her eyes. He was holding his hands inside his pockets, not looking at the girl. The two of them walked next to each other as they approached the first step of the staircase, starting a journey from the fourth floor.

'The cars are in the underground. Hizashi should be there already,' Midnight informed.

Mariko nodded and slid her hand on the rail guard. She glanced at Aizawa again; he was looking in front of him, his dark marks under his eyes slightly more visible than usual.

'Was it real, then?'

'Thank you for taking care of me,' Mariko said to him quietly and observed as he lazily shifts his eyes to meet hers. 'I think you might be underpaid for your work,' she commented.

He chuckled once and turned his head towards her.

'You are welcome.'

They kept walking down in silence, Midnight giving the two in front some space. Mariko was itching to talk to the man, but it was just as hard for her to start a conversation with him as usual.

'You've grown so much, Okaido,' he said, breaking the short silence. 'I am so proud of you.'

Mariko's throat instantly tightened, as she felt a fuzzy feeling inside her chest. She tried to keep walking, but was not able to. She stopped and turned her head to the rail guard and then placed her forearms on it, hiding her face from the world. She wanted to cry so badly, but it was due to the happiness. He was proud of her. There had been no greater gift in this world he could have given her.

Aizawa's face softened, as he observed the student's reaction. He chuckled at Midnight, who smiled softly and then continued downstairs.

'Tsk, tsk, what a ridiculous reaction,' he teased her playfully. 'Makes me think that there is something more to it.'

'A praise kink?' Midnight suggested.

'Please, stop,' Mariko said, her lips pressed against her forearm.

The two of the teachers continued down the staircase; Aizawa's smirk not leaving his face for a long time. When all of them finally entered the underground parking for the hospital guests, they noticed Hizashi leaning onto his car parked next to another vehicle, covered in a red gloss paint. His regular, wild hair-do was changed to a neat man-bun.

'Wow, are these yours?' Mariko asked and ran all the way to Hizashi, checking out his car.

'Hell yea. It's my pretty baby, Lily,' Hizashi slid his hand on the surface of a blue, American muscle car with two white stripes painted across the middle of it's body.

'Wow! She's gorgeous!'

'Thank you, thank you!'

'And this one?' Mariko pointed at the red car next to Hizashi's.

'This one is mine,' Midnight informed and brushed her hips on the side of the vehicle. 'I call her Dawn.'

'Oh, Dawn and Midnight? I love it,' Mariko commented and walked around Hizashi's car to the red one.

'You can touch it, I know you are itching to do it,' Midnight smirked.

Mariko smiled and dragged her fingers across the car, feeling the freshly waxed surface.

'Uh, it's so smooth,' she informed with a dreamy expression on her face.

'Just like the owner,' Midnight commented, making the younger woman laugh.

'Can we go already?' Aizawa asked in a slow, sleepy tone.

'Sorry,' Mariko straightened herself and looked at the man with apologetic eyes.

'Relax, grim boy!' Hizashi slapped Aizawa's back. 'What would your car be, Okaido?'

'Mine?' she wondered for a moment, sliding her palm on top of the red car. 'I think it would be an all-terrain type of vehicle, like a Range Rover, maybe slightly armored if that's possible and with a black matte paint.'

'Edgy,' Midnight commented.

'What's up with Sho attracting all the emo kids?' Hizashi teased his friend, who shot him a tired glance.

'Alright, let's keep going, though,' Midnight interrupted.

'YO! Okaido, come with me. You have some nice voice there, girl! Wanna do some karaoke?'

'Thank you, Mic,' Mariko blushed slightly and observed as Aizawa gets into the red car with Midnight, while she ran around the sports vehicle to Hizashi. 'I would love to!'

With that she entered the passenger seat in the muscle car and watched Present Mic start the engine.

'You look great with that hair,' Mariko couldn't help but comment. 'It's so unexpected as well.'

'Me looking great?' he teased.

'No!' she replied, hands swinging in a defensive motion. 'I was just not expecting you to tame your wild hair, that's all.'

'I know girl, I'm playin'' he clarified and pulled out his phone and then connected it to the speakers inside the car, selecting one of his playlists. 'You like some 80's city pop, yea?'

'I'm down for anything, please feel free to introduce me to more music,' she responded and watched Hizashi nod with approval.

'Alright, let's get this party started, YEAAAAH!'

He swung his arm from side to side and showed Midnight and Eraser a thumbs-up, signaling that they are ready to leave.