Kyle arrived at the scene a few seconds later, his eyes scanning for the other villain.
By now, most of the captives had fled and thankfully, there didn't seem to be any injured person.
'I made a mistake here…' Kyle slowly shook his head.
He had gotten so angry after seeing Tsumi's stage that he did not take the logical steps to avoid disaster.
If he wasn't lucky, then someone might have died that night.
He sighed, calming himself as he searched the street. That was when he saw someone lying on the floor, unconscious.
'What happened to him?' Kyle thought as he walked up to the boy.
It was clear that he was part of the criminal group, but he seemed to have been beaten up long before Kyle had arrived.
'Actually, even the other guy was also barely hanging on…'
'Did Tsumi do this?'
Since Kyle had not inherited the original memories of this body, he had no idea how powerful Tsumi was, or if she even had a quirk.
He glanced back at the crystal which she was safely resting inside. 'I'll have to ask her later.'
Huff Huff
There was the sound of low, muffled breathing as well as slow, laboured steps from the other side of the street.
But that was not all Kyle could hear. The blaring of an ambulance as well as police sirens were also there, but very far away.
'I don't have much time.'
Dropping the unconscious man, Kyle sprinted round the corner of the street, the retreating villain stifling a scream as he appeared behind him.
The man was terribly beaten, his clothes were ragged and there were visible bruises all over his body.
'Did Tsumi do this?'
Kyle held back his chuckles.
'At least she showed them hell before I arrived.'
But still…
Kyle glared down at the man, his crimson eyes like two swirling pools of blood.
…he was the reason Tsumi was even in this mess.
"Shit! Stay back, I said stay back!" he screamed as he stumbled and fell, his arms raised up in defense.
'Pulse was not the one who charmed all those people, that means it has to be him.'
As the man was struggling to get away, his shirt dragged up, and then below it was a tattoo that set off alarms in Kyle's head.
The tattoo of a salamander.
'That same Salamander gang?'
Strangely, this tattoo looked very different from what Gege's brother had, almost more mature…
And the man in front of him wasn't even from Japan.
'What is going on?'
"Who sent you here?" Kyle asked, his voice growing cold.
"Like hell I'll tell you!"
Blue light began to surround him as he tried to summon his energy, but Kyle grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and pulled him to his feet, ramming his knee into his gut.
Bang!
The man coughed out air, then smiled bitterly. "Torture me all you want, you're not going to get a thing from me!"
Kyle smirked. "Is that so?"
He pulled the man up and stared right into his eyes. "Who sent you?"
[~ Compulsion
The effect is greater if the person agrees to be compelled and is less in people with great mental resilience.]
The man's gaze hardened as he visibly struggled to resist the compulsion, his jaws clenched so tightly that blood began to drip down his lips.
'It looks like he has some mental training.'
Kyle was aware that some organisations did it to resist hypnosis and torture.
Yet, it only made him even more curious. After all, the more the guards, the juicier the secret!
'What are you hiding?'
On top of his training, his quirk seemed to be mind-related as well.
That was the obvious way he had brought nearly a hundred people here.
Which meant his mental resilience was far higher than that of the regular person.
'This is going to take some effort.' Kyle mused.
He then repeated his question, only this time, with far more authority. "I said, who sent you?!"
"Gahhh—!" He coughed, taking heavy breaths.
"The Salamander gang!" he blurted out.
'Even in this half-lucid state, his mind is subconsciously trying to evade the question.'
"On whose orders?"
He gritted his teeth, his face turning pink from struggling to resist.
"T-the t-the— Hero…"
He took a deep breath before saying it all at once. "The hero public safety co—mission."
Kyle took a step back, unable to believe what he had just heard.
He grabbed the man's shoulders. "Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying…" he said in a low, lifeless tone.
'The HPSC? So far they had enough excuses to justify their previous actions, but what about now? What possible reason could they have for this?'
"Why did they send you, what do they want?"
The villain stuttered, desperately trying harder to resist. But he had already been beaten up badly and drained of energy.
"T-they w-want— Urgh— quirks…!"
"What are they using the quirks for?"
"To—build a—su—"
Splash!
The words died on his lips as blood suddenly splurted out of the man's chest, flying into Kyle's face.
He immediately jumped back as a shadow spike aimed to skewer him as well, narrowly missing his chest.
"What the hell?"
Kyle's gaze snapped up to the top of the building. Standing atop it was a woman dressed in pure black clothing, her face shielded by a black mask.
Whoosh!
Before his wings could even emerge, Kyle was already halfway up the building, his fingers reaching for her face.
But right before he could touch her, she waved at him, smiling through her eyes.
And then she sunk down like she was atop quicksand, her entire body falling into a dark portal that was below her.
Almost instantly, the portal closed as well, leaving Kyle alone.
"Damn it!" he cursed, staring at the dead man below him.
'So they will go as far as killing to silence their pawns?'
That was when he remembered that the other villain was still alive. He rushed over to where he was, hoping to get more information from him, but by the time he arrived…
He was already dead...
•••
It was morning, the gentle rays of sun were seeping through white linen curtains, and the sound of quiet chatter could be heard in the distance.
Tsumi woke up in the hospital room, her head pounding and her entire body fraught with pain.
She looked around, taking in the room then tried to stand up, only to feel her ribs crying out to her.
'Damn it… it must be broken…'
She sighed. 'What even happened?'
Tsumi tried to recall the events of last night, the memory of what had happened rushing into her head all at once.
She had almost died in her encounter with those thugs, and ended up being saved by a masked person she had never seen or heard of.
Tsumi cocked her head to the side then folded her arms across her chest. "Is he a hero?" she muttered.
It was unlikely, she would have at least heard of him once or twice.
Then she sighed. 'Who cares who he was?'
"At least I'm done with those thugs…"
She could have chosen to investigate them, but she had far too much on her plate to begin investigating a foreign gang.
Besides…
Her gaze darkened as she stared at her phone. 'Do I have any right to judge them?'
The door to her room creaked open and Kyle stepped in, looking concerned.
"Tsumi, you're awake. Are you alright?"
"Ahh, Kyle!" Her serious expression from earlier vanished, leaving no trace of her inner turmoil.
"Have you been here all night? You look so rough." she asked playfully.
He smiled nervously and then chuckled. "You're really chatty for someone who broke her ribs…"
Then walked over to her with a basket and placed it on her table and smiled.
But when Tsumi stared at him, she thought to herself.
'His eyes… were they always so red?'