On the day New York was attacked by aliens, everyone was watching the Avengers. I, Lisa Takahashi, was working at Starbucks when I looked out the window. Iron Man flew across the sky, Captain America threw his shield. Everyone cheered. But I noticed something. In the shadow of a building, a man was moving quietly. He wasn't fighting. Yet he was placing small devices here and there. What was that? I dropped my register and followed him. Because at that moment, my heart was pounding so hard. Just
After the Hero Left - The day I begged to be allowed to help.
Monday morning, before putting on her apron at the Starbucks on Lexington and 42nd, Takahashi Lisa was walking along the perimeter of the Ground Fall reconstruction zone.
*(I came again.)*
She muttered it inside her heart. Her feet turned this way on their own. That Saturday night, Kyle O'Connor had told her not to come. And yet, not even two days later, here she was, standing in this place again.
A wind too cold for spring blew from beyond the fence. Dust from the construction site glittered in the morning sun as it danced through the air. It was the usual sight, but today it felt special.
*(Because I made up my mind.)*
That night, after watching Kyle's back as he walked away, Lisa had sworn in her heart. Next time, it's my turn to protect you. Even if he tells her not to come, she can't just silently watch him go alone into a dangerous place.
"...Where is he?"
She walked slowly along the yellow fence. It was the morning commute, and people in suits hurried past on the street. No one looked beyond the fence. Only Lisa peered through the gaps in the chain-link.
The rubble had been mostly cleared away, but there were still places where the remains of collapsed buildings were piled up like mountains. What had happened here six months ago—she still couldn't believe it. A hole had opened in the sky, and those iron monsters had rained down. The city she loved had been engulfed in screams and flames.
At that moment, Lisa's eyes stopped on a single point.
Beyond the fence. A short distance away, a familiar back.
Short dark-brown hair. Messy bedhead. Wearing a gray work jacket, holding some kind of equipment in his hands. She knew immediately, even from far away, that it was Kyle.
*(There he is.)*
Something pulsed hard deep in Lisa's chest.
Kyle was crouched near the rubble, examining something. A serious profile. She could tell even from a distance. Those deep blue eyes. Right now he was focused on his work and hadn't noticed her.
Lisa hesitated, wondering whether to call out from outside the fence. But yesterday's "don't come" flashed through her mind.
*(It's fine. I came here today to ask him something.)*
She took a small, deep breath and began walking along the fence toward where Kyle was.
"Kyle! Good morning!"
She gathered her courage and raised her voice. Kyle's shoulders twitched. He slowly turned around, and when he recognized Lisa, he paused for a moment, then gave a smile that was troubled, but also just a little exasperated.
"...Hey, I told you not to come. You didn't listen to a single word I said."
His voice carried clearly even through the fence. Usually calm, now it had a slight edge. But he wasn't angry. That's how it felt to her.
"I heard you. But I came anyway today. There's something I really need to talk to you about."
Kyle set down the measuring device he'd been holding and stood up. He approached Lisa from beyond the fence. He was 182 centimeters tall. Much taller than her—she had to look up.
"No. This isn't a place for civilians. You know the Safe Zone Regulation Act. It's a five-thousand-dollar fine. You make nine-fifty an hour. How many hundreds of lattes are you planning to sell?"
"How do you know my hourly wage?!"
"You told me yourself before. Said something about a hundred thousand cups a year... no, that's not right. Anyway, don't come inside. Absolutely not."
Lisa hooked her fingers onto the fence. The chain-link was cold.
"I won't go inside. I have a request."
"I'm not listening."
"Let me help you. With your work."
The air stopped for a moment.
Kyle stared down at Lisa. His deep blue eyes caught the morning light. Those eyes held surprise, and then something troubled.
"...What are you talking about?"
"I saw it the other day. You, alone, turning your back on exploding Chitauri weapons, and still collecting all of them. It was dangerous, but you didn't rely on anyone. I thought to myself—making one person handle something that hard, all alone, is wrong."
"It's my job. Hard or dangerous, it's my job. It has nothing to do with you."
"It does! That day, I chased after you. And ever since then, I've been thinking about you. I can't believe it has nothing to do with me!"
Her voice came out louder than she'd intended. A passing salaryman glanced at Lisa and hurried past. Lisa looked up at Kyle, her ponytail swaying.
Kyle furrowed his brow slightly. His face wasn't angry—it looked like he was wrestling with something.
"...The other day, when I told you not to come, I said there wouldn't be a next time."
"I remember. But not coming isn't an option for me. ...Kyle, is it that you don't want me helping with your work? Is it because I'd just be dead weight?"
Lisa's voice trembled slightly at the end. She thought it was pathetic of herself. But it was the truth.
After a long silence, Kyle let out a small sigh.
"...That's not it. It's not about whether you'd be dead weight. I just can't bring an ordinary person into a dangerous place. Besides, you work at Starbucks, right? What about your shift?"
"I start in the evening today! I have time until then. I really want to help. I won't do anything dangerous. I'll only do safe things. Checking equipment, carrying things. That should be fine, right!"
Lisa spoke in a rush. When her emotions ran high, she talked fast. It was a habit of hers. But she couldn't stop.
Kyle looked straight into Lisa's eyes. As if trying to confirm something.
"Inspection and transport only. Don't touch hazardous materials. Follow my instructions exactly. If I judge anything to be even slightly dangerous, I'm sending you home today. Is that acceptable?"
Something surged up from the bottom of Lisa's chest all at once.
"Yes! I'll do it! Thank you so much!"
Beyond the fence, Kyle smiled—just for an instant.
Not that sad smile. A lighter, more ordinary way of laughing.
"...You're the first person I've ever met who's grateful to help with dangerous work. What about work clothes? You going like that?"
Lisa looked down at her outfit. A white T-shirt, a thin denim jacket, comfortable sneakers. She'd come before her shift, so it was perfect.
"These are easy to move in! And I don't mind if they get dirty."
"I see. Then I'll just give you gloves. Follow me. ...But don't go inside the fence. You can go around from outside to the warehouse up ahead."
Kyle stepped away from the fence and picked up his equipment. Lisa walked along the outside of the fence, keeping pace so she wouldn't lose sight of his back.
※※※
She was led to the west side of the Ground Fall reconstruction zone, to a corner of an old warehouse district. Brick buildings lined the street, and on one of them hung a quiet sign reading "Authorized Personnel Only." Kyle let Lisa in through a gap in the fence, then opened the warehouse's heavy metal door.
Inside, it was dim and dusty. Steel shelves lined the walls, with machinery in transparent cases stacked neatly.
"This is Section Gray's auxiliary warehouse. The official facility is elsewhere, but when we need to move things quickly in the city, we use places like this. ...Here, put these on."
He held out a pair of thick work gloves. Lisa took them and pulled them onto her small hands. The size Kyle had given her was a little loose.
Kyle took two cardboard boxes down from a shelf and placed them on the workbench.
"The contents are neutralizer beacons. The blue light you saw in the red zone that day. The machines that extinguished it. From here, you count them and put them into cases one by one. Once they're in, load them onto the cart. I'll do the driving. Your job is to not miscount. And not to drop them. That's all."
Neutralizer beacons.
Lisa's heart jumped. The device she'd only heard the name of that night, never properly seen. A palm-sized disc. Fine blue lines ran across its metal surface. A privately-made device, built by Kyle.
"So these are... then, six months ago, on the day of the New York invasion, the machines you were placing in the shadows of buildings—these are them?"
Lisa squeezed out the words, staring at the devices in the box.
Kyle's hands stopped for a moment.
"...Yeah. That day, I went around the city setting these up. To suppress the radiation the Chitauri weapons were scattering, even a little. Without them, half of Manhattan might be uninhabitable by now, after the battle."
The scene from that day came back to Lisa vividly.
Iron monsters falling from the sky. People fleeing in panic. Buildings crumbling. And—while everyone looked up at the heroes in the sky, one man stayed glued to the ground, moving from shadow to shadow, placing discs.
The identity of what had made her heart pound that day.
"...So that was these. That day, I abandoned my register and chased after you. I had to know what that person was doing. I never imagined it was work to protect New York."
Kyle picked up one of the devices, inspecting it for damage, and said quietly:
"Protect is too grand a word. That was cleanup. We clean up the places where heroes fight. That's all. No one watches, and no one praises. That's the job."
"Kyle, I think you're wrong about that."
Lisa said it, looking straight at Kyle's face. Kyle looked back at her, slightly surprised.
"That day, because you were there, I can still make lattes in New York right now. Everyone was obsessed with the heroes in the sky, and no one saw you on the ground. But I did. There are people like that. I just want you to remember that."
Kyle said nothing.
He just silently inspected the devices on the workbench. To Lisa, that silence felt gentle.
"...Get your hands moving. We're finishing these two boxes today. Thirty per box. Sixty total. If you miscount even one, we start over."
"Yes! Leave it to me!"
From there, the two of them began their quiet work.
Lisa carefully lifted each neutralizer beacon, one by one, and placed it into a transparent case. The cold metal sensation transmitted through the gloves. Beside her, Kyle checked the condition of each device and handed them to her.
"This one's fine. Put it in the case."
"Okay."
In the dim warehouse, rhythmic sounds echoed between just the two of them. The sound of devices settling into cases. The rustle of cardboard. Lisa's heart had been loud at first, but gradually it calmed.
*(Alone with Kyle.)*
That fact seeped slowly into her chest. It wasn't a scary place. Dangerous things were certainly close by. But the time standing beside Kyle was strangely reassuring.
"You're pretty dexterous. I thought you'd be clumsier."
"Hey, rude! I'll have you know I'm in the top three at my store for latte art hearts!"
"I didn't know that."
Kyle laughed softly. That smile was boyish, and the depths of Lisa's chest grew warm again.
*(God. How many times is my heart going to jump today?)*
The work progressed smoothly, and the devices in the boxes were placed into cases one after another. Lisa's movements gradually sped up.
"Ah—"
Suddenly, Kyle's hands caught her eye.
He'd fumbled the handle of his toolbox. The metal toolbox clattered at the edge of the workbench. Wrenches and screwdrivers threatened to spill out.
"You okay? Did you get hurt?"
Kyle steadied the toolbox and turned back toward Lisa. At that moment—
Lisa saw it.
Kyle's fingertips were trembling, ever so slightly. The same tremor she'd seen on Saturday. The tremor that appeared when something was closing in on him.
"...Kyle. Your fingers."
Kyle looked at his right hand.
"Ah. This is—it's just a little fatigue. Don't worry about it."
"That's a lie. I saw it the other day too. Kyle, is there something you're afraid of? You're always trembling. Not just your fingers—your heart. Am I wrong?"
Kyle forced a smile.
"My heart's trembling? What are you, a poet? You're exaggerating. It's really nothing. ...Ah, right. I just lost focus. I didn't sleep much last night."
"Kyle."
"Enough. Don't miscount. That was around the thirtieth one. There's still more than half lef
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