Hide From the Eyes

Thankfully, no one paid them much attention before they were ushered into a bulletproof SUV parked outside the hotel. The engine stuttered to life as a policewoman lifted the yellow tape, letting them pass through the cordon without ceremony.

As the vehicle pulled away, Yumie unbuckled herself without warning.

“Yumie-” Braith started, but she was already moving, shuffling across the seat and curling into his side. He sighed and wrapped both arms around her, instinctively positioning himself as her seatbelt. She pressed her face into his chest, breathing shallowly, and the small bulletproof window separating them from the soldiers in front mercifully stayed opaque.

He exhaled.

Only then did he look down at her properly.

Her sweater was still stained - half grey, half deep maroon where her blood had soaked in. Her chest rose and fell steadily, but she looked utterly spent. They both did. At least the bag at their feet still held spare clothes; the thought brought a small, fragile comfort.

They didn’t speak.

The SUV eventually came to a stop outside a police station. They were escorted inside, past the front desk and down a corridor that smelled faintly of disinfectant and old paper, then into a staff room at the back.

The female soldier nodded once.

“We’ll leave you here. Someone will be with you shortly.”

She and Yusa were gone before either of them could respond.

The silence lasted only a few seconds.

The door burst open and a woman hurried in, mid-forties, hair hastily tied back. She took one look at them and froze.

“Oh, you poor things.”

Horror softened quickly into urgency.

“Come on. Quickly. We need to get you cleaned up.”

Too confused to question it, they followed her back out of the station and into the house next door. She waved them inside briskly.

“My husband’s at the shooting,” she said, already moving.

They were led upstairs, down a narrow hallway, and into a bathroom filled with steam. The bath was already running, water sloshing gently against porcelain.

She smiled at them - warm, maternal.

“Take as long as you need. Towels are there. Leave your clothes behind, I’ll dispose of them.”

Before Braith could ask a single question, she was gone.

The door closed softly.

Yumie tilted her head toward him.

“What’s going on?”

He let out a quiet breath.

“We were taken to a police station,” he said slowly. “Then invited into someone’s house. And now we’re… having a bath.”

She processed that for a moment, then smiled.

“That’s nice.”

He nodded, though something in his chest tightened. It was still early - barely ten in the morning - and despite everything, he wasn’t tired. The kindness felt real… and yet strangely deliberate.

He pushed the thought aside.

Yumie shifted her feet, toes brushing the tile.

“Can you… help me clean again?”

He smiled immediately.

“Of course.”

Her smile in return was brighter than before, soft and trusting.

Standing there beside the bath, steam curling around them, Braith realized he had never felt so warm - or so watched.

The water was a little too hot for Braith’s liking, but Yumie seemed comfortable, so he said nothing.

She sat in front of him, silk gloves still on, the bathwater lapping gently against her as he washed her back with a soft cloth. The side of her body that had been soaked with blood had been rough and stiff at first, but most of it had come away easily under the shower. Now he cleaned her not out of necessity, but because she liked it - and because he cared.

Her skin was smooth, catching what little natural light filtered through the opaque window. Her ears were tilted slightly forward, relaxed. Her tail curled around her beneath the water, heavy and soaked; drying it would take time, but that was a problem for later.

Their ruined clothes lay crumpled on the floor. The bag with their spares rested beneath the heated towel rack.

Yumie shivered as the cloth brushed her hip.

“Ooo… that tickles…”

He chuckled softly.

“You’re ticklish?”

She nodded.

“Everywhere you are…”

His breath caught for half a second before he forced himself to relax, returning to her shoulders.

“I’ll be careful,” he said.

“Please.”

He finished gently, running the cloth once more along the hollow of her back before stopping.

“I-”

Before he could finish, she shuffled backward without warning, settling between his legs and leaning into his chest.

“Front now.”

He swallowed and did as she asked, washing her arms and stomach. She squirmed faintly when he went lower, then relaxed when he moved back up to her collarbone and neck. When he stopped again, she tilted her head back, looking up at him upside down.

“Why’d you stop?”

He hesitated.

“I…”

She cut him off.

“Are you nervous?”

She shifted slightly, the water rippling around them.

“I would really like it if you cleaned my breasts-”

He frowned, gently but firmly.

“Yumie. We’re in someone else’s house. Stop trying to get me excited.”

She froze, then flushed bright red and quickly scooted away, bumping into the far end of the bath before curling in on herself.

“I’m sorry…”

He reached out instinctively.

“Yumie…”

She didn’t move.

After a moment, he sighed.

“When you said you wanted to clean me too, you meant a different kind of clean, didn’t you.”

She nodded, so small he only caught it because he knew her.

He rubbed his head.

“You’re hopeless.”

She peeked back at him, mortified.

“If you wanted that,” he continued, softer now, “you could’ve just said so.”

“I did,” she whispered. “Once. Then I got scared and started using my body instead.”

He stared at her.

“You asked me six hours after we met.”

She nodded.

“And you turned me down. And called me a hooker…”

He groaned quietly.

“Yumie… do you always take things that literally?”

She nodded again.

He sighed.

“For the record, I said you were acting like one. And that was because you didn’t understand you were moving way too fast.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be,” he said quickly. “You didn’t know.”

Silence settled between them, broken only by the water.

“Yumie-”

She blurted, words tumbling together.

“IfIeveraskandit’sagoodtimewillyousayyes?”

He blinked.

“…What?”

She squirmed.

“If it is a good time,” she clarified, barely above a whisper, “will you say yes?”

His heart answered before his head could.

“Of course.”

The instant the words left him, she slid back toward him, settling between his legs again.

“My turn,” she said brightly. “I’ll clean you.”

He smiled, twisting so she could reach his back, and let himself relax for the first time since the morning began.

Braith led Yumie down the stairs.

She smelled faintly of strawberries, her hair freshly washed, his still slightly damp. They wore clean clothes; Yumie looked much like she always did, her grey sweater and bare thighs finally free of grime. Her tail was light and airy again, properly boofy after he’d spent far too long drying it - long enough that his hands had begun to ache.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find in the common room.

Eevi and Kertu were not on that list.

He had barely registered their presence when Eevi suddenly ran at him, arms outstretched. Kertu lunged after her, but she was too slow. Eevi - somehow even shorter than Yumie - collided with him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his clothes as tears soaked through.

Yumie stiffened, a low growl rumbling in her chest as she sensed another woman clinging to her fiancé. But then she heard the sobs. The raw, broken sound of them.

She let it go.

Kertu stopped a step behind them, wincing.

“I’m sorry… she’s been through a lot. Nothing compared to what you two have, but still.”

Braith hesitated, then gently rested a hand on Eevi’s head. It was hard to reconcile this shaking, clinging girl with the idea that she was an adult.

Then again, perhaps she wasn’t.

“What happened?” he asked quietly.

Kertu went still.

“Fadel and Baha… were killed.”

He blinked.

“I thought humanoid Mahotona were the most powerful.”

“So did we,” she replied. “But aside from Yumie, we’re starting to doubt that.”

He tilted his head.

“What’s your quirk, Kertu?”

She smiled nervously.

“Perception.”

“So you can understand things instantly?”

“Pretty much. That’s how I figured out Yumie’s ability, by piecing together what little information I had.”

He frowned.

“Then you know why humanoid Mahotona aren’t as powerful as everyone thinks?”

She nodded.

“It’s because they aren’t. Our only real advantage is a stronger connection with our Mahoro. Better coordination. Better combat instinct. But our magic itself isn’t any stronger.”

She gestured toward Yumie.

“But I couldn’t understand why she has two quirks. Blindness and audio replication. Unless…”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh. That’s it. Her blindness isn’t a quirk. It’s the cost. Her magic quirk requires one of her senses to function, and the one it took was sight.”

Braith glanced at Yumie.

That explained why her eyes looked perfectly normal.

He swallowed, wondering what would’ve happened if her magic had taken her hearing instead. Or her sense of touch. Or taste.

He wished it had taken her taste.

He looked back to Kertu.

“So why are you…”

His gaze dropped to Eevi still clinging to him, then to Yumie’s clenched jaw.

“…and Eevi here?”

Kertu smiled faintly.

“We were sent to talk to you. Honestly, it’s a welcome change from combat missions.”

He nodded slowly.

“And what were you told to say?”

Before she could answer, the woman who’d invited them in stepped into the room.

She took in the scene - the tears, the tension, the close clustering - and smiled warmly.

“Oh! You’re out,” she said. “I hope you’re feeling clean and warm now.”

Braith nodded.

“We are. Thank you very much.”

“That’s good to hear.” She bowed.

“My name is Minami. Thank you for visiting!”

He returned the gesture.

“No, we should be thanking you. I’m-”

“Braith and Yumie, yes, yes, I know,” she said cheerfully. “Now come along to the dining room and have some snacks. I’ll clean the bathroom.”

And with that, she disappeared upstairs before anyone could respond.

Kertu smiled.

“Don’t worry about it. That’s just how she and her husband are. Always eager to help.”

“Her husband?” Braith asked.

“The chief of police.”

That explained the drop-off.

He smiled faintly.

“I should find a way to repay them.”

“They’ll probably refuse,” Kertu said. “Now come on, standing around would be rude.”

He nodded and gently pried Eevi off his waist. The moment she let go, Yumie stepped closer, pressing herself against his side as if to physically claim the space.

He chuckled under his breath and followed Kertu as she guided Eevi toward the kitchen.