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The call was a surprise.
It was true that Shouta was perhaps more affected than most by the League of Villains case. Even if none of them had died, his class had been targeted by the League more than once, so he had a stake in the case, even more so than the school as a whole. Even still, the call was a surprise - why was he being contacted about Kurogiri, who had already been captured a bit back? And told to bring his husband along? Very odd indeed, but there was no harm in obeying the summons, was there?
Well, perhaps there wasn't any physical harm in it. Mental harm, yes, although there wouldn't have been any way for them to know that before they - anyway. They went to Tartarus with no real expectations, a mild sense of curiousity, and the thought that whatever this was it wouldn't be anything too life-changing, really.
They were wrong on all counts.
"Thank you for coming," Detective Tsukauchi said to them, "Really, I... I mean, legally, I didn't have an obligation to tell the both of you first, but emotionally... I know you well enough, Aizawa, to know that this is something that you needed to hear in a personal way. I imagine that your husband is the same."
That wasn't the first sign that something about this was horribly wrong, but it was the first one that they really registered. The first one that made them wonder if this was worth it. But, with a passing glance between them, they turned back to the Detective. At this point, their morbid curiousity drove them forwards.
"What is it that you wanted to tell us, Tsukauchi?" Shouta asked, Hizashi standing at his shoulder.
"We ran a DNA test on Kurogiri," the Detective said.
"And you contacted us about the results?" Hizashi asked, "No offense, Detective, but I'm not quite sure why I'm here!"
"I thought you should see the results. Both of you. Before you heard about this from anyone else." The Detective handed them a peice of paper, presumably the results of the DNA test. Shouta took it first, and only looked at it for a moment before it slipped out of his hand.
"No..." Shouta looked completely stunned. Hizashi didn't think he'd ever seen Shouta like this before, except maybe when... but, well, that was a completely different circumstance, wasn't it?
"Shouta?" Hizashi asked, "What is it? What did it say?"
"It said... but that isn't... that's not possible, Tsukauchi!" Shouta rounded on the Detective, "He's dead!"
"I know," the Detective said, "I know, that's why we ran it three times. And then got verbal confirmation from the prisoner himself. I'm sorry... I don't know how it happened, but I'm sorry."
"Shouta?" Hizashi asked again, but... but his husband was crying. Shouta didn't cry... it was difficult for him, with his dry eyes. Whatever was on that paper... He bent down to pick it up off the ground.
His eyes flew wide.
"Oh... I don't want to believe that..." Hizashi gripped the paper tight, crinkling it, "But... but at the same time... I want to see him. Please? Please, if it's real, then we can see him again, can't we?"
"Yes," the Detective said with a nod, "This way..."
Hizashi dragged Shouta along by the wrist, a sort of manic desperation overtaking his thoughts. He probably shouldn't think this way, but if it was real, if it was so, then he didn't care about the villainy. He just wanted to see him, see their third, and for him to see them in turn. A glance back at Shouta told him that Shouta probably felt similarly.
A gift, a gift... despite the circumstances around it, this was a gift... if it was real, it was a gift...
They entered a room with a great pane of glass in the middle of it. On the other side, a man sat - Kurogiri, looking slightly different from when they had seen him before. His mist had retreated, settling comfortably around his head in an approximation of hair pulled back into a ponytail. When they first entered, his eyes were closed as though he was sleeping. His features were familiar, especially when looking for similarities.
It was him... it really was him!
He opened his eyes - golden, lampent yellow now - and looked at them both. Smiled sadly.
"Hello, Shouta. Hello, Hizashi. It's been a long time since we've been able to talk to each-other, hasn't it?" Oboro said, tears forming in the corners of his eyes even as he smiled at them.
It was the most beautiful thing Hizashi had ever seen.