8 Confession

Tatsumaki left Boom to the nearest hospital in City L, and then traveled to her hideout where he had previously left the twin espers. He still had Otento in tow, who at this point, was already unconscious from both exhaustion and pain.

Once she arrived there, she found the still unconscious twins, tied up and covered with dried blood. She added Otento to the mix and forcibly woke one of the twins up.

As soon as he woke up, he looked around the dark room in panic and found the person of his recent nightmares standing in front of him.

"Kyaaa-!" He let out a manly scream but was quickly silenced by Tatsumaki who locked his mouth shut.

"Shut up and answer my questions. Nod if you understand." In response, the young man nodded franticly. She then freed his mouth.

"Did a young man come by here while I was gone? Black hair, blue eyes, looked like a martial artist?"

"Y-yes!" The blonde twin kept nodding.

'As I suspected. Fubuki must have told Boom about this place.' She thought before asking another question, "Did he say or ask you anything, and if so, what?"

"He was asking about your whereabouts... a-and I told him would probably be in our hideout. After getting the coordinates from me, he knocked me out again."

"Did he say anything about why he was looking for me?"

"N-no."

"Hmm." Tatsumaki pondered for a moment before knocking him out again and leaving the hideout.

***

Fubuki was currently in her room, sitting by a table next to the window, leaning on her hands with her chin while looking at the night sky and wearing a frustrated expression. Her earlier encounter with her sister was still on her mind. 'Again, I was left out. She keeps underestimating me!'

"Ngh! Aaaah, whatever!" She shouted. 'I just need to get stronger, so that sis can't boss me around anymore!'

"Hi, Fubuki."

"Kyaa!" Fubuki jolted up from her seat and turned around to see the calmly smiling Tatsumaki. "S-sis? What Are you doing here?"

"What? Do I need a reason to come and see my sweet little sister?"

"Yes!" She looked away and pouted in response.

"Huhu. Well, okay then. I came here to ask you something." Tatsumaki's smile now turned into a more neutral expression. "Why did Boom come after me? I know it was you who lead him after me, so he should have told you his reason."

"...Oh, so he managed to catch you up. But then, shouldn't he have already told you why?" Fubuki pondered.

"Well, he couldn't, because by the time we met, he was already practically dead. He's lucky if he'll survive."

"What? But how is that possible? Even if he managed to catch up to you, you should've been done dealing with things before he found you. And from what I saw, he was extremely strong. So how could he end up like that?"

"...That isn't what's important right now, so don't worry your head over it." Tatsumaki didn't want to elaborate. After all, she couldn't let her little sister know how she had been careless and gotten caught in a simple trap. "So, what did he want to tell me?"

Remembering her conversation with Boom earlier, Fubuki got a little embarrassed. "It isn't my place to tell you. I think it's better if you ask him yourself."

"You really aren't going to tell me?" Tatsumaki stared at Fubuki for a moment to see if she would break and tell her. She didn't, however, which made the her smile. Her shy little sister had grown a bit.

"Good night, Fubuki."

"Good night, sis..."

***

Boom woke up to a familiar looking ceiling, finding himself lying on a hospital bed once again. Only this time, instead of being covered in bandages, he had a hospital gown on.

'What happened? My memory is hazy.' He held his head due to his terrible headache.

He looked out of the window to see the sun rising from the horizon. He then checked the room only for his eyes to land on a familiar looking greenette, sitting with her hands crossed under her modest chest.

Upon seeing her, memories started flooding in, right until the time he... had lost.

"Took you long enough to notice me." Tatsumaki grumbled annoyedly.

"Y-you're okay." Boom stared at her with wide eyes, but soon his shocked face turned into a stupid smile, tears and snot threatening to come out. "Thank goodness, *sniff* I thought I had lost you." He weeped while being relieved.

"What the heck are you on about?! You are creeping me out!" She moved her chair a step back.

"Say, how long have I been out?" Boom was quick to turn his expression back to normal.

"...One night." She answered, still a little weirded out.

"What? Only one night? But all my wounds are already healed. I remember being quite wounded." He was shocked. One night shouldn't be nearly enough for all the wounds he remembered having been inflicted with.

"That doesn't even begin to describe your condition from last night. All things considered, you should be dead. And you would be too, if it wasn't for me healing you and quickly bringing you here."

Boom already had a vague idea about how things should've ended last night. Otento shouldn't have been in much better condition than him after the fight. Boom had noticed his opponent being in his very last breaths, just before losing his own consciousness. He suspected Tatsumaki had somehow freed herself before Otento had recovered. After all, whatever was keeping her asleep, couldn't have lasted forever.

"Ehehe, so it was you who ended up saving me, and not the other way around. I should thank you then." Boom awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Damn right, you should!" Tatsumaki looked away, still keeping her hands crossed under her chest.

Suddenly, the loud sound of Boom's stomach growling filled the room.

"...Hungry?" The greenette asked.

"Extremely... And also thirsty." He stood up from the bed, immediately noticing that his whole body was aching, but nonetheless able to move perfectly well. He then found his own clothes on the table next to his bed and pulled a curtain between Tatsumaki and himself.

He could see a clock in the corner of the room. Some restaurants should be opening up around this time.

"Say, would you mind if we talk while moving? My stomach is killing me and I need to get something to eat as soon as possible." Boom said while he was changing his clothes behind the curtain. Surprisingly, they were all cleaned up even though he remembered being covered in blood before losing consciousness in the hideout. They only had few tears here and there from yesterday's fights.

"Haah, sure." Tatsumaki sighed.

"Great!" He smiled brightly as he pulled the curtain back out of the way, and started walking out of the hospital with her.

"So, did you came here just to see me?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Hmph, in your dreams!"

"Indeed."

""..."" Tatsumaki looked at him with a confused look while Boom took a numbered waiting ticket in the hospital lobby and went to stand by a wall. She then decided to get to the point.

"My main reason for being here is to make sure that you never speak about what happened yesterday to anyone. Especially not my sister." The greenette looked at Boom threateningly, adding a little bit of pressure on him to make a point of her seriousness.

"...Not even Bang?"

"Not even him."

"Ngh, that's gonna be hard, he always sees through my lies." The young man worried.

"I will destroy you if it leaks out." She glared.

"Alright, alright! I don't know why you'd want that, but nobody will ever find out." Boom said, half confused, half determined.

Then they saw that it was Boom's turn to get to one of the counters, so he walked there to log out of the hospital. Once he was back, they both started walking out of the building while Tatsumaki opened her mouth.

"Since I'm already here, I'm willing to hear what you wanted to tell me. I heard from Fubuki that that was the reason you came after me in the first place."

'Ah, I almost forgot again! I was enjoying too much talking with her.' Boom thought and he turned serious. "Krhm. Yes, yes indeed. The thing I wanted to say is simply that... I have fallen for you."

"Eh...?" This, she did not expect.

"Mm." Boom nodded. "Three years ago, I fell in love with you at first sight. Initially I thought it was just a random crush, but as my feelings never faded during the three years I never saw you, I realized it was more than just a crush. Yes, it was love! After meeting you once again yesterday, and now today, I'm even more sure of it. So now, I've made it my life's goal to pursue you and become a man worthy to be by your side." Boom finally ended his monologue. He had now let it out of his system and it felt really good.

"...Not happening."

Boom looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Mm, fair enough. That was pretty much the answer I expected. I just wanted you to know. That's enough for me, for now." He smiled.

"Stupid idiot! Relationships are meaningless. People only use them as an excuse to receive help from others." She shared her opinion.

"Is that how it is? I disagree, but if you want to see it that way, then couldn't it be the other way around too? To use it as an excuse to help others?" Boom asked and the turned to smile at the greenette. "That's how I'm going to use our relationship on you."

"I don't need help from anyone. Especially from a weakling like you. I didn't need it last night, either. If I felt like it, I could have dealt with the whole lot in less than 10 seconds."

"Eh? But I think I'm pretty strong." Boom said proudly. He was then abruptly encased in green psychic power which made him unable to move.

"You are only strong compared to normal people. But in my eyes, you'll always be a weakling." Tatsumaki released him and continued walking.

Not minding what had just happened Boom continued walking and pondered. "So I need to get even stronger, then? That's no problem. I can do that. This'll be my first hurdle to get your approval." He was confident.

"No! What I'm saying is, you'll never be on my level. Know you limits!"

"Don't worry, I'll get there or die trying." Boom gave her a thumbs up.

"Hmph, who said I was worrying?! Just go ahead and die then!" Tatsumaki crossed arms again while pointing her nose to the skies.

"Ehehe." He scratched the back of his head with a silly smile. But it was interrupted when his eyes landed on a restaurant called 'Hell's house', and he got excited. "Oh, there's a place. Finally, something to eat!" He then looked at his current company with a hopeful expression. "Will you join me?"

"Not a chance! I've already humored you way too much, so I'm leaving." She then took to the skies and left.

"See you!" Boom waved happily at her diminishing figure. After she had disappeared out of his vision, his gaze turned serious and determined as he stared in that same direction for a moment longer.

He then entered the restaurant and ordered 3 extra large mega meals with 4 liters of water.

While he was waiting in his booth he could see to a playground through the window. He saw a little boy playing with a ball by himself and concentrated on him to distract himself from his growling stomach.

Not much later, he noticed something within the boy that caused him to squint his eyes in curiosity. It was something he hasn't seen in anyone else before.

'What the heck is that?!'