chapter thirty-seven;

━━━━━━ "SHIGARAKI, WAS IT REALLY necessary to burn the body and decay the entire building?", kurogiri asked, picking up the newspaper as kisa started manically laughing while sitting on shigaraki's lap.

     "I didn't burn the body, she did", the blue-haired male defended, completely missing the point.

     kurogiri just sighed as he picked up the cleaning cloth once more and got on with work.

     kisa widely smiled as she took another shot of whiskey, having to have had at least seven shots.

     "that's enough", shigaraki said as he stopped the girl from pouring herself another shot.

kisa's grin suddenly dropped as she frowned, her pink lips pouting as she let out a small whine.

"why?"

"because you're drunk", shigaraki stated as he carried kisa bridal style up the stairs.

kurogiri observed as he wondered whether he should head out now or later.

"perhaps I'll go in a few days...", the mist man murmured to himself.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

as shigaraki threw kisa onto the bed, the male carelessly draped the blanket over her as he walked over to his desk and started up his computer.

kisa lied there with her half-lidded eyes drooping every so often, fighting to stay awake.

the girl turned her head to the side, seeing two to three shigarakis playing on their computers.

sighing, kisa rolled around in bed, to which shigaraki had promptly started to aggressively click his mouse as he maneuvered past some obstacles.

"tomura~"

the male grunted in response, clearly not wanting to deal with a slightly—very—tipsy kisa.

the girl squinted her eyes as she suddenly sat up, sitting there for a good while before gathering her thoughts and trudging her way over to the gaming man.

"you should stay in be—"

     kisa suddenly fell, to which shigaraki had hastily turned around in his chair as he saw kisa, who was whimpering over a small scab to the palm of her hands.

     the girl looked up at shigaraki with tears brimming her ears, to which shigaraki was utterly shocked.

     how was it that the woman who had singlehandedly taken down the meta liberation army now crying over a bit of pain.

     "tomura...", kisa quietly cried out, to which the blue-haired male flinched as he slowly went over to go help the girl up, still not believing that it's the same kisa that he had first met.

     "stand up", shigaraki softly commanded, to which kisa's bottom lip quivered as she outstretched her hands towards the male.

     "can you c-carry me, tomura?", kisa pleaded. her eyes held such need and want, shigaraki felt his heartstrings being tugged left and right.

scooping the girl off the floor, shigaraki carried kisa back onto the bed, this time, nicely draping the blanket over her.

before shigaraki could leave, kisa held onto the man's wrist, to which shigaraki tiredly looked at the clingy girl.

"what?"

"my hands...they hurt", kisa stated.

"I'll have kurogiri go get the first aide".

shigaraki was about to walk off once more, but was still held captive by kisa. though the girl was drunk, her strength was not gone.

     "I don't need...kurogiri", kisa hiccuped. "I want you to kiss it better", the girl requested.

shigaraki furrowed his brows as he clicked his tongue.

"quit fucking with me and go to sleep".

"I'm not", kisa said seriously. "and...I want you to stay by me", the girl mumbled. "or is your game more important than your wife?"

shigaraki lowly growled as he climbed in bed, laying beside kisa as he watched the girl stick her hands out in front of him.

"now what?"

"kisses".

shigaraki rolled his eyes as he aggressively held kisa's right hand and placed a quick kiss against the girl's palm as he did the exact same to kisa's left hand.

"there. now sleep", shigaraki scowled, to which kisa just started chuckling.

     "what's so funny?"

     kisa snatched shigaraki's hands and peeled off the gloves, making him a bit confused as to what the girl was wanting to do.

     the fox girl's gaze then darted towards shigaraki's.

     "you silly man. you clearly don't like wearing these gloves", kisa chuckled, making shigaraki frown.

     "you're the one that got them for me".

"and you wear them for what reason?", kisa asked, pulling herself closer to the male by rolling onto shigaraki and laying on top of his chest.

shigaraki stayed silent as his arms laid beside his body, a bit spread out as it became slightly hard to breathe with kisa just toppling over him.

"for me?", kisa quietly asked, giggling as her flushed face tilted from side to side on shigaraki's chest.

     shigaraki simply ignored the girl as he pushed her off, making kisa hum as she watched shigaraki slide off the bed and return back to his desk.

     kisa nearly fell off the bed as she hobbled towards shigaraki, tumbling onto his lap as she blocked the male's view of his computer.

     cupping shigaraki's now smoother face—that took loads of lotion to improve—the girl grinned.

     "afraid tomura? did I perhaps...strike a cord?"

shigaraki turned his head away only for it to be forcefully turned back to meet kisa's half-lidded eyes.

"are you worried...because I might turn into dust?", kisa asked, to which shigaraki didn't know how to answer.

the man didn't know how to feel, how to react, or how to express what he was feeling.

at first glance, kisa seemed like an arrogant yōkai, though shigaraki's master—all for one—strongly persuaded shigaraki to use the seven-tailed vixen to his advantage.

and although there were many infuriating moments with the girl and the other three men, shigaraki stayed due to his master's wishes.

"is it because...you're scared that I might just disappear...like all your family did that night?", kisa whispered in shigaraki's ear, making the male's eyes widen in shock as to how the girl knew.

"isn't that right, shimura tenko?"

shigaraki felt his breath hitch as he froze, completely unaware of what he should say or do. there was only him and his master that knew, well, to his knowledge of course.

kisa smiled as she loved nothing more than taking people by surprise. it was the look on their faces that made it so thrilling.

"how—"

"tell me tomura...are you scared of losing me? do you...do you perhaps...love me?", kisa madly questioned, leaning her forehead against shigaraki's as their eyes were just centimeters apart.

     shigaraki felt himself trapped. for the first time in a long while, shigaraki felt himself slowly drowning in the pool of questions that kisa had given him.

     did he love her? why was her words affecting him so much? was he actually scared of...losing her?

     "...no...", shigaraki breathlessly answered. there was no reason for a single person, living thing, to be able to inflict such a silly emotion such as love in his heart that was already long gone the night his family was decayed.

     kisa could see the wavering emotions in shigaraki's vermilion eyes.

     'liar'.

     kisa then leaned in even more closer, if that were possible, to the point that her and shigaraki's noses had touched.

     with their breaths heaving in sync, kisa's tinted pink lips grazed upon shigaraki's, almost as if she were teasing him, daring him to kiss her because she knew that he wanted her, and that he loved her, even if he didn't know it himself yet.

     the blue-haired male's mind was clouded. with a taste of kisa's lips, shigaraki leaned in for more, getting a relish of whiskey in the mix.

     as the two parted, shigaraki had on almost a dazed look, as if he were shocked and confused as to how he got here.

     "I'm not scared tomura...I'm not afraid. your hands...they're meant for greater things than a hero", kisa mumbled.

     "they're...they're meant for me to hold...and for the downfall of everything you hate. so...hold me with them...until you're ready to tear down everything the heroes create".

     shigaraki's hands shakily hovered over kisa's head and face, to which the male lifted his pinkie as he cupped the girl's rosy cheeks.

     his thumb caressed over her plump lips, carefully feeling the girl's warm face and noticing how aesthetically pleasing the girl truly looked. though it was to be expected of a never aging yōkai, shigaraki couldn't get enough.

     "why?", the male simply asked, making kisa smile.

"because tomura, I want you to know that I, tamotsu kisa, will never leave your side...as long as I have a place in your heart", the girl stated as her pointer finger traced a little heart slightly to the left of the man's chest.

"so I ask you again, shigaraki tomura...do you love me?"

shigaraki's eyes momentarily closed before fluttering them open, answering in the most calm and quiet tone.

"yes, yes I do".