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1.
The stars are in Kaito’s eyes.
They shift and glimmer underneath the sun, a starry expanse collapsing into endless galaxies. Constellations claim skin and expand wider and wider, rows of decorations falling into place and begging to be set free.
And set it free, he does.
The light intertwines with reality, and makes a blinding path only he can see. He follows the stream and ignores the smoke and the fire and the calls on his communicator to return to the fight, because he can feel something is wrong. Someone is in danger.
It's almost paradoxical — of course something is wrong, there are robots attacking the city, giant monochromatic bears, dubbed Monokumas, bearing emblems of despair by way of a serrated red eye.
Still he follows the trail, and finds someone trapped under rubble.
Foot caught under stone and cream hero outfit stained with blood and tears, stony grey eyes peer up at him from under a mop of disparaged blue hair as though he were an inevitability. Despite soot and the granite staining his clothes, one particular cowlick remains stubbornly stuck-up.
He calls for help, weakly, voice stuck in his throat, and Kaito runs over to provide assistance. He does the majority of the heavy lifting, shifting rubble until the stranger has enough leverage to shimmy out of his enclosure.
With strong arms, Kaito lifts him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and keeping his companion steady as they move from the wreckage.
His eyes are glazed over, as though he's about to lose consciousness, and Kaito's brain-to-mouth filter disappears, desperate to keep him awake.
"Hey man, what's your name?"
It takes a moment for him to cobble a response together. "Sh-Shuichi. Shuichi Saihara."
"You're a hero, right?" Kaito asks. "You're wearing the costume for it."
"Yeah, I'm just—" Shuichi hisses in pain when he tries to put pressure on his foot. Kaito tells him to take it easy. “I just started out a couple weeks ago."
"And you're on your own? Aren't newbies supposed to sidekick other heroes?"
"I wasn't on my own."
The silence and the implication hangs heavy.
"My bad. Sorry, man."
Shuichi doesn't reply, so Kaito broaches another topic. "What about your powers? Got anything that can help us outta here?"
"N-No," Shuichi mumbles, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "My powers are, well, they're only good for seeing things I don't want to."
"So you've got some sort of x-ray vision?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"...Future vision," Shuichi chokes out, voice lined with pain as Kaito hauls him up a set of stairs. They're close to a safer area, one where they can get first-aid.
He doesn't have time to reply, because Shuichi falls limp in his arms, passed out from the pain. Kaito picks up the pace and hauls him towards a first-aid tent, where a woman with dark skin and stark white hair takes him in for a check-up, presses a palm to clamoured skin and announces that Shuichi will recover.
Over time, Shuichi recovers. Kaito tries to visit the hospital in which he's staying as much as his schedule permits, and he finds that he's one of the only people to visit. Didn't the guy have a family, or something? There was one civilian he had run into, an older man with hair a off-colour shade to Shuichi's.
Other than that... Kaito thinks.
He puts those thoughts into words one afternoon, when Shuichi seems reserved and more concerned with the lint in his pocket than looking Kaito in the eye. "Shuichi, I wanted to tell you something."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong! Just wanted to say some things. Jeez, you really are a worrier, huh?" Kaito sighs, rubbing at his goatee. "Nurse told me you get discharged in two days, so I was wondering what you were gonna do after you recover."
"Oh," Shuichi says. He teethes at the skin on his lip. "I-I haven't really thought about it yet."
"Great!" Kaito replies. "From now on, you're my sidekick!"
"W-What!?"
2.
“The only intel we have is a code name: the Ultimate Assassin.”
Shuichi looks distinctly uncomfortable with the moniker, so Kaito gives him a bright smile. His sidekick is anxious about most things, nervous gaze twitching from one place to another. The two of them have been drawn into a meeting about a vigilante, one they can hopefully recruit for the Future Foundation. Apparently, they had information on the mastermind of the Monokuma invasion.
The higher-up continues explaining. “The only sightings we’ve had of them have been security footage and a single encounter, enough to ascertain their abilities, but not enough for their identity."
"What about their modus operandi?" his sidekick asks, ever inquisitive.
"They only turn up when children are in danger," their superior explains. "They turn up, scrap the Monokuma that tries to attack a child, gets them to safety, then leaves."
"If we don't know when they'll turn up, then how are we going to catch them and convince them to join us?" Kaito points out.
One pair of eyes lands on Shuichi, and Kaito follows. Under two headlamp gazes, he flushes bright red and fumbles with his white shirt, tugging at the buttons as they gleam under artificial light.
"A-Ah, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," he says.
Kaito feels that rush of indignance; he'd be damned to let Shuichi go on another self-deprecating tyrant. "Hey, don't start talking like that! You've been working hard. Besides, you're my sidekick now. Any mistakes you make are my responsibility, so don't worry about messing up and just see if you can see their next appearance. You've got this!"
Eventually, he concedes, and Kaito watches Shuichi focus. His eyes swirl with the sands of time and a glowing power comes into focus, decipherable only to his sidekick. He grunts, like he's digging around for something, sweat trickling down his brow.
It takes a few minutes, with both Kaito and his superior watching on in silence, but Shuichi eventually reels back, into the present reality.
"Three days from now, in the North End, they'll turn up again. I saw-" Shuichi takes a moment to absorb a breath, reeling, "I saw a girl being attacked by a Monokuma."
When Shuichi's magic subsides, someone hands him a coffee. Tsumugi — who Kaito hadn't even noticed come in — brushes a hand awkwardly against the pale flesh on Shuichi's arm as she places it down, and falters like the touch burnt. "I-I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright," Shuichi says, and he takes a sip. "Thank you for the coffee... I really needed that."
She smiles in spite of the situation. "It's just plain coffee, but I'm glad I could help."
They spend the three two days preparing; scoping out the area in which their target will appear is an arduous task, and Kaito ends up with the majority of the legwork. That's not to say his sidekick doesn't do anything - he pours through security footage and visions of the future, trying to pinpoint the specific alleyway and exact serial number of the Monokumas he had seen in the vision.
Shuichi also keeps Kaito company, his voice transmitting through an earpiece. On busy days, his sidekick runs him through the lay of the land and plants advice, ways to use his magic that he only would have thought of in hindsight. Over time, the stammer in his voice fades and there's an underlying authority Kaito had only seen when Shuichi broke the news of the future.
On quiet nights, their conversation is more light-hearted.
Shuichi tells Kaito tales. He tells him about life before the Monokuma invasion, about his detective work and the minor cases he'd covered before the world was wrenched into despair.
"That's why they let me become a hero really quickly," Shuichi explains. "I was already working in law enforcement, it was just a matter of changing what type."
And the company is nice. Shuichi seems more confident over the headset, something Kaito hopes he can emulate in a real-life scenario. They talk about meaningless things, and order drinks together after work. There's no polite talk and stuffiness, even if his sidekick is nervous.
That's before the attack, Kaito can sense skittering anxiety on the other side of the line.
"What if... what if I'm wrong, Kaito? My powers aren't a 100% guarantee, and if someone gets hurt because we tried to change the future, then it'll be my fault."
Kaito raises an eyebrow, even though Shuichi can't see him. "What kinda hero are you if you're worried about your powers not working!? Now listen here, Shuichi! You can't worry about the what-ifs or buts, you just gotta focus on what you can do now. If your vision is wrong, then we find another chance to get to this Ultimate Assassin person. Don't focus on Earth, you gotta reach for the skies!"
There's a silence over the line, before Shuichi chuckles. "Thanks, Kaito."
"We really need to get you some field training, man."
"M-Me!? I don't think—"
Kaito hushes him because am eight foot tall Monokuma saunters into view, a wiggling child in its grasp. The girl can't have been more than eight years old, hair matted and blood stuck to her cheeks as she cries in pain.
It takes everything in his soul not to immediately chase after her, to stop his magic from reactively reaching out to soothe her pain and remove the threat. He hunkers down, clenching his fists tight, waiting.
Someone else strikes, instead.
A dark figure brandishing a knife appears from an alleyway, rushing at breakneck speed towards the Monokuma. Too taken with restraining the child, the robot shudders when the thrown knife marks a soft spot.
With the hood drawn, Kaito can't make out their identity, so he steps closer to provide aid. He pours magic into a shape, producing a whip of light. It strikes and wraps around the bot, just as its arm was about to come crashing down on the assassin.
Their gaze flickers towards Kaito, and he sees familiar ruby eyes, thrumming with energy thicker than blood.
He doesn't have time to think about what that might mean, because the Monokuma rears up, ready to attack once more. The little girl runs towards the hooded figure, and they dart forward to intercept a blow before it can hit her.
Kaito hears Shuichi down his ear, pointing out the most opportune moment to strike. The whip makes a second lash, railroading a scorching path down the front torso that reels the beast back, collapsing into fragments of jittering electricity and mechanical waste.
In the calamity, Kaito hadn't noticed the assassin's hood had been thrown upwards, revealing a young woman. She'd styled her dark hair back, tucking the remnants into her hood. The same crimson eyes were now framed around her face, with dark circles of wear and tear. Small scars ran down her face.
She was really fucking badass.
She points the knife at him, standing protectively in front of the girl. "What do you want."
It all comes to Kaito in a flash. "Hey, I remember you! From hero training!"
He casts his mind a few years back to less desperate times, when the Future Foundation trained as a proper heroes academy. He'd stood, decked out in a prototype costume, watching some of the most promising recruits in combat training.
Of course he remembered Maki Harukawa, who dominated the competition and rose above even the most prodigal, decked out heroes with naught but a set of knives and a regeneration power.
She'd clamoured her way to the top, then disappeared without a trace.
Maki's eyes crinkle, as though tasting something unpleasant. "Ugh, I remember you. The idiot who kept bothering me with all those pointless questions."
Kaito laughed, because once upon a time, yes, he had barraged her with questions. Questions about her weapons, about her abilities, who she had trained with and if she had any other latent powers she'd yet to showcase. He still remembered her response, even now.
"None of your business."
Shuichi pulled him away from those cherished moments, whispering something about their proposal.
"Got a message from the Future Foundation for you!"
"What?"
"You should join back up with us, help us out with the Monokumas! I'm sure they'd welcome you back with open arms."
He tosses her a communicator, which she catches in one hand and inspects. "Y'know, in case you ever wanna call us."
Maki drops it, then crushes it under her heel. She takes off into the night with a child holding her hand — Kaito doesn't see her for six weeks.
3.
Maki finds herself particularly unhappy with this scenario. Working with the Future Foundation was supposed to be a temporary solution to a permanent problem, yet progress stilted all the same.
Asking for help was one of the last things Maki ever wanted to do, to put herself in another's hands, but it was imperative that this mission be completed. So, she did it how she always did, by smashing open the window of the Future Foundation and waiting for someone to chase her down for damaging hero property.
She's stuck with those two idiots again — the purple one that blunders around like the city is a catwalk, and the blue one who can't look her in the eye, but mumbles about the future with cold certainty and a resigned expression.
Even though she's only ever seen the blue idiot in the communications division — the other harping on about field experience — both of them seem to have developed their own individual dynamic, with little nods and expressions she feels out of the loop from.
Instead of engaging with them as they travel a rubble-wrecked path, she keeps her perception sharp and retraces the steps of her mission:
First, find the supplies taken by the Monokumas.
Second, return them to the resistance camp that laid on the outside edges of safety to help them provide relief to fleeing citizens.
Third, don't die trying.
It takes a few hours, but they find the Monokumas responsible for the theft. There are ten of them, all human-sized, transiting a cart down the broken remains of a highway. Idle machinery following idle hands, she thinks.
Before the purple idiot can blunder too loudly and alert the minions, Maki springs into action, striking like a tense coil. She jumps into the fray without hesitation, aiming a knife directly for the juncture in the robots where the servos ran weak.
She strikes true, as always.
Maki pulls another dagger from her belt, and she sees the two idiots scramble to follow up her attacks from the corner of her eye. Ignoring them, she settles into the rush of combat, feeling adrenaline fill her bones; she is alive, thriving in her element.
Four more Monokumas are downed, and the space-spandex idiot has finally joined the fight. She catches glimmers of light that wrap around the bot's heads like halos to blinding them and seizes the moment, plunging her knife deep.
What she doesn't expect is the spray of debris as a mangled caricature of a Monokuma crawls through the city, sharp metal vertices digging into flesh, then bone.
When she recoils in pain and attempts to batter the creature away, Maki gets a better look at it. Bits of metal and iron are melded together in a catastrophe of limbs, serrated edges barely keeping its core functions stable. Electricity sparks dangerously as Maki bleeds, though the wounds begin to tissue up as she feels platelets press around the tear. Groaning metal cackles in delight, relishing in her pain.
Her knife prevents the creature from biting her head off, holding the mangled jaw at bay. It sticks into its mouth, a japing maw of needle-sharp teeth.
Something pierces the hide of the creature, and it falls away, defeated. With tense muscles, she pulls away the Monokuma to inspect the killing blow. Glowing knives made of light are stuck in its carapace, at least a dozen of them as they slowly dissipate into the air, evaporating into gleaming stars.
The fight eventually breaks up.
When Shuichi offers to look at her wounds, she brushes him off. They'll heal, she tells him curtly. He looks hurt at the rejection, but makes no move to push further and instead focuses on making a report of the supplies.
When Kaito comes over, she tries to repeat the same sentiment, but the idiot just doesn't get it, so she tries to push him away.
She pushes them away, because all she knows is death. All she knows of life is the last breath, gasped out in a plea for more time, the struggle as she silently wrenches away another life, and the blood on her hands that has already dried. All she knows is to make a person’s last moments painless, and that is all the mercy she can provide with her cold and wicked hands.
She tears Monokuma robots apart. She regenerates. She kills, because that is all she knows.
"I work alone," Maki says. "Stop trying to push yourself into my business."
Kaito falters, and for a moment she's sure he will finally break away, that she's worn him down. He runs a hand through his gel-spiked hair and sighs. "You know, I think I finally figured out what your biggest strength is."
"What?"
"You've got heart, Harumaki."
"Don't call me that," she says. "And I don't have heart, I'm an assassin. I kill things, I get the job done and that's it."
He shakes his head. "If you just wanted to get the job done, you wouldn't have that look in your eyes."
"What look in my eyes?"
"The one that says you care. You wouldn't have that—" Kaito jabs towards her heart— "if you were actually heartless."
He tosses her a communicator before she can slink into the shadows. "You should call us if you need anything, instead of breaking into headquarters. Me and my sidekick are always happy to help!"
Maki doesn't crush the communicator under her bare hands.
4.
Maki punches him in the stomach, and Kaito keels over in pain. He splutters and coughs, but before he can recover she's already taken the opportunity to advance, flipping him onto his back and pinning him down.
She waits until he relinquishes, two taps on her arm.
Shuichi comes over with two bottles of water, and while Maki almost crushes the lid over her strength, Kaito finds himself taking a moment to adjust to his shaky hands before he can properly open the damned thing.
"You need to stop celebrating your victories," Maki says. "When you think you've hit something, you hesitate. If someone absorbs your blow, they'll hit you back."
Although Maki grumbles about being his sidekick, she's really taken into the role, Kaito thinks. She's migrated herself into the small friendship outside of work he used to share with Shuichi, expanding their two person usual order at a café to three.
In spite of the sardonic comments out that slightly alarm Shuichi, all three of them have sort of settled into a routine. As much of a routine as on-call heroes can have, anyway.
Kaito looks up from the rim of his water bottle. "Hey, I was thinking."
Shuichi mumbles a what's up, Kaito?, and although Maki doesn't respond, her eyes light up in interest.
"Harumaki, you'd totally make a great combat teacher for Shuichi!"
Both of them pause, exchanging confused glances with each other.
"Me? Teach him?"
"Kaito, I really don't think that's-"
"Hear me out!" he interrupts. The two relinquish into silence, though neither looks happy about it. "You've both got something you wanna fight for, right? That's not something you have to tell anybody, but if you wanna get there, you have to put the work in! "
Kaito watches their lessons unfold curiously. At first, it's awkward.
It's very clear that Shuichi only knows the fundamentals of self-defence from his detective training. He spends too much time thinking about what move to take, instead of letting his body guide him, and he ends up on the mat with more bruises than he can count.
Even Maki ends up struggling, not used to explaining the process behind her fighting. She can't verbalise most of her actions, because they come instinctively to her.
But they make it work.
Awkward silences bloom into Maki uttering quiet instructions in the form of correcting Shuichi's stance, taking him through warm-ups and cool downs. They spar with one another, though Maki holds back, and Shuichi even manages to flip her over a single time (though she quickly knocked him to the ground three seconds later).
They both end up training, and in a way, it saves them both. They don't just have Kaito, they have each other.
5.
The Monokuma attacks have become worse.
What had once been a barrage against districts of the city to draw out heroes have now become targeted assassinations — groups of them banding together to hunt down heroes and knock them out of the fight, always able to pinpoint their location no matter what measures they take.
At first, their organisation had thought it to be a communications issue. The encryptions on their technology had been switched around, and Kaito had to flounder between new channels to receive transmissions to no avail, yet still they lost more heroes.
Chunks of city have been lost, and the frontier isn't looking good.
Some of Kaito's colleagues have been knocked out of the fight, people he's been training with since the beginning. He'd paid a hospital visit to his buddy Rantaro — a hero with the ability to duplicate objects who he’d stowed away with some years back — with some flowers. When asked, Rantaro provided he'd barely scraped by from a major head injury that would have caved his skull in.
"It was strange," Rantaro had explained, "one moment I was patrolling the boulevard as usual, then those Monokumas turned up and attacked, like they knew where I'd go and they were waiting. Though I guess I was lucky Gonta was around, else I wouldn't have made it."
He'd left his friend with a get-well-soon card when an emergency alert had sounded, calling all available heroes to the location.
Shuichi was quick to patch into his comms, summarising the situation.
"There's been an uprising of Monokumas in the East End, more than anyone's ever seen before. We... we aren't sure where they came from, but the priority is getting people to safety."
When Kaito reaches East End, he's never seen carnage like it.
Civilians are spread out in a clamoured panic, scrambling to get away from Monokumas larger than life. Children are screaming for their lives, calling for their parents, a few clutching teddy bears and other stuffed animals with tears brimming in wide, fearful eyes.
The adults aren't faring much better, either. There's a hero on duty tending to wounds, and they look overwhelmed, people of all shapes and sizes covered in cuts, blistered and bruised from the blunt force of metal Monokumas.
Luckily, the most damaged things in the area aren't the people; it's the city. Cleaved in half or upturned, there are no cars left undamaged. Buildings are suspended by temporary pools of constructive magic, people flocking out and running as the foundations shake and tremor.
In the midst of the fray, he sees Maki. She tussles with a spherical Monokuma that seems insistent on steamrolling her into the ground, though she jumps and weaves over any attempts effortlessly. Shuichi accompanies her, back to back with one another.
Kaito finds himself lost in how they move for a moment.
Although Shuichi stumbles slightly, Maki never chastises him. She merely moves to cover his exposed areas, while he shoots up any Monokumas sniping from a distance. They're a good team, Kaito comments to himself.
Then, the house next to them falls apart.
Bricks shatter, and pieces of glass kick up in a spray the two of them have to close their eyes to protect themselves from. The sound of the explosion makes Kaito's eardrums pop, and he can hear the white noise that follows. More concerned with the falling building and keeping people safe, they fail to notice the barely-alive remains of a Monokuma aiming an energy beam at them.
Kaito pulls at something in his soul, the fabric of his being, in a need to protect his friends. He feels the magic drain, coil around his friends in a protective shield. It forms a physical bubble, refracting the beam back at the Monokuma and wrenching it out of existence.
Only when the two of them shoot him a grateful look does he smile, evidently relieved.
+ 1
Kaito gets captured, because of course he does.
It was supposed to be a simple mission: deal with the hoard of Monokumas in town, prevent structural damage to the district and save as many civilians as possible.
Clearly, it didn’t head that way. He can only remember flashes, moments of standing back to back with Maki and commentary from Shuichi in his ear. Then, he'd pushed Maki away from a masked assailant targeting her specifically.
Then, here.
Twine rope snaps his arms short, phlegm building in his throat as he coughs away the substance, consciousness coming slowly as a rush of dizziness washes strong. It clears, eventually, and now he can focus on the other concerning sensation — he can’t feel his magic.
Runes are etched into the concrete in a circle surrounding him, ancient blue patterns that thrum and pulse with active energy. They are drawn without haste, and Kaito wonders just how long he’s been unconscious. Long enough to enact the circle, at least.
He looks around, examining the strange cell he’s been left in. There isn’t much to make out, but in the haze of bluish light, Kaito appears to be underground. Pipes framework the ceilings and run along the walls, like a stereotypical scientist lab, and something not-quite-water filters through them.
Kaito tries to move, find purchase on the stone below him and work into a sitting position, but the energy doesn't come. Usually, he finds bundles of energy; motivation to keep his friends and comrades going, the grit to stand up after taking a lash in a particularly cruel fight, even the supernatural energy from a place in his very being is nowhere to be seen.
It's almost frustrating, being the powerless one.
Minutes pass, and Kaito begins tugging at the rope. Even if he can’t escape this cell, it would be better to have his hands free. All of his weapons have been removed from his costume, but that doesn’t mean he can’t pack a punch. The friction is distinctly uncomfortable as he works, but he grits his teeth and continues.
The door groans just as he’s a sliver away from freedom.
Someone he knows steps into the room, and all Kaito thinks is that he should have known.
Meek, unimportant paper-pusher Tsumugi imposes upon Kaito from his seating position, grander than ever before. She had used to saunter from job to job, curling in on herself like a hermit, but now she stands tall. Once freestanding blue hair is tied back securely, and there’s a glint in her eyes under her thick-rimmed glasses, like she’s studying an insect she very much wishes to crunch under a heel.
She starts speaking before Kaito can muster any bravado. “You probably weren't expecting someone plain like me, right? That's what you were thinking."
He grits his teeth, pushes away the memories of a starry-eyed girl asking repeated questions about his costume. "Why'd you do this, huh? The Monokumas offer you more than the Future Foundation? C'mon, Tsumugi, you're better than this, you can-"
"Make better choices?"
"H-Huh?"
"You were going to tell me I could make better choices, weren't you?" Tsumugi asks, and she smiles. Kaito had certainly seen her smile before, the upturn of her lips a little hesitant when she stopped by with papers. Now, all he can see is swirling despair in her eyes and a crackling smile so wide it could shatter teeth. "I knew what you were going to say. I also know that your sidekicks are coming soon, that they'll knock down this door and demand you back. But I know exactly how it will play out."
Her eyes glow, and underneath undulating madness and layers of despair folding upon itself, dark blue magic — different to the runes, the very colour he associates with Shuichi — showing him the hand of time. Of his sidekicks losing.
When she understands that he understands, her smile turns a little sad, a little more human. "Unfortunately, I'm just a cosplaycat criminal."
The door comes crashing down, and with it two serious-eyed superheroes. They look like they've been dragged through hell, Maki's crimson hood shredded in some parts, and Shuichi's costume is tattered, mask fraying at the edges.
He doesn't even have time to marvel at seeing both of them in full costume before a fight breaks out.
Maki lunges low with a knife, her speed exacerbated by the cloud of dust she kicks up. Tsumugi blocks easily, her borrowed magic taking physical form. The knife slides easily off the shield, water running off a duck's feathers, and the shield pulses with power, Maki staggering back.
"Don't let her touch you!" Shuichi warns, "if she can regenerate, nothing would be able to stop her."
The two exchange blows, neither of them able to hit each other. Although he knows his sidekick is fast, Tsumugi seems to be able to see what is coming next, foretold to her by the flash of time and ticking hands.
Shuichi runs closer within the discord, whether to unbind Kaito's hands or assess the circle of runes, but lurches back in pain, caught by an ankle with a wayward lash of energy. It sends him careening into the wall, shaking the foundations of this underground tomb. All Kaito can see is smoke and dust and rock.
Maki isn't fairing much better. She dodges and weaves around at least five different types of prismatic magic, trying to sink her knife into a chink in Tsumugi's armour, but finds little purchase in a perfect bubble of protection.
Kaito feels useless. Here he is, watching his sidekicks fight for both his life and their own, and he can't even find the energy to stand. He tries one more time at the rope, desperate, and it does not budge. He tries to summon magic, anything, pouring light to distract Tsumugi, or something more formed, a weapon, but nothing comes.
He's forced to watch as Maki studders from another blow and although Shuichi has re-joined the fight, he's in another predicament as Tsumugi duplicates three Monokumas. A Hacking Pistol sits in his grasp, and he blows out the wires of another bot.
When Kaito cranes his head back to Maki, she's on the floor, defeated, restrained by latent energy. Tsumugi stands over her victoriously.
The villainess leans down towards her prey like a spider would a fly, having caught Maki in a web, searching for a patch of exposed flesh. Tsumugi has dropped the shield, replaced with a subtle glow settling between her palms, cold golden light that makes Kaito feel ill looking at it.
When she leans down to steal Maki's powers, she makes her only mistake: turning her back on Kaito's other sidekick.
Shuichi barrels towards her, awkwardly adjusting his position and locking Tsumugi into a rudimentary throw. For the first time since the fight broke out, she's taken off-guard by the move, and slams into the concrete ground.
It's over in faster than Kaito can blink — Maki throws magic-restraining cuffs around Tsumugi's wrists as she writhes and curses their names, and Shuichi is quick to help him escape the rune circle.
"A-Are you alright, Kaito?"
He takes a moment to respond, because the return of his magic is prominent. It's like breathing for the first time after surfacing. "I'm fine. Just shaken up, I guess."
"What were you thinking, you idiot?" Maki seethes. She goes quiet for a moment, somewhere between enraged and worried. "You know I can come back from blows, so why would you... take a hit for me?"
"Hey, don't call me an idiot!" he says, offended. "'sides, just cause you can take a hit doesn't mean I want you to. They were targeting you, after all!"
"I think what Maki meant to say was... we were worried about you, Kaito," Shuichi comments, quick to placate their argument. "When the Monokumas sensed they couldn't get Maki, they ran off with you instead. Tsumugi was probably trying to use you as bait."
"Yeah, she was probably after my regeneration powers, since she already had Shuichi's. With both our powers together... she could have done some serious damage," Maki concludes.
"Seems like you two figured it all out while I was gone, then!" Kaito says, then lowers his voice. "Thanks, you two. You really saved my ass back there."
"You've saved me so many times Kaito, how could I not return the favour?"
Maki rolls her eyes. "It's not like I owe you a favour or anything... but you did help me out. Also, Shuichi... your throw could still use some work."
Shuichi blanches.
It doesn't take long for officials to come and arrest Tsumugi. News stations and interviewers make a storm trying to secure an interview from the trio of superheroes that emerged from the dust with the perpetrator, and weeks go by.
Shuichi and Maki spend time patching up his wounds, both mental and physical; they sit with him while he rewraps his bandages, and Maki covers the areas he can't reach. The two also join him for a morning jog to slowly regain his stamina, a side effect of the runes in which Tsumugi had trapped him under.
They also let him talk. Shuichi has a talent for listening, while Maki is a soothing presence. They leech words out of him, or sit there when he finds himself inconsolable. Their care and their concern is heart-warming, even if Maki undercuts it by calling him an idiot.
Time heals his wounds. He's able to start small patrols again, things that scratch the itch to adventure out into the great beyond. Shuichi is always in his ear, and although Maki isn't always present, she sometimes skirts her duties to check up on the two of them.
There's still work to be done and a city to protect, but Kaito has two shining lights at his side, even beyond his magic.