Below them, the city blurred into streaks of light and shadow. Wind roared past their ears, tearing at clothes, stinging exposed skin.
Toru's breathing was shallow against Haru's chest. They hadn't touched the sword, which was still plunged in her abdomen.
She laughed weakly. "Guess… I don't get to make you my sidekick."
Haru tightened his hold on her instinctively. "Don't talk," he said. "Save your strength."
"Hey," she muttered. "I earned this."
Blood soaked into his sleeve where her hand clutched him.
"I was serious, you know," she continued, words uneven. "You are my best friend..." A pause. "Kinda sucks… You won't get to see me order you around." Her voice was getting lower by each passing second.
Haru didn't answer. His throat felt heavy. He was scared.
He glanced back. Bakugo was keeping pace, explosions firing in short, controlled bursts, to increase their speed.
Toru's voice dropped, barely audible over the wind. "I love you."
The words landed softly.
Then nothing.
Haru said nothing. His mind was too occupied to process that.
With the help of his quirk, he could tell that she had gone unconscious. However, her body was rapidly falling. The backlash from forceful awakening, along with her gut rupturing, was too much for her body.
Haru's quirk could barely keep her alive. She needed immediate medical attention.
"Katsuki! Did you not eat lunch? Faster!" Haru called out.
"I am releasing explosions as fast as I can."
"So, are these your limits? So much for yapping about becoming the next All Might."
Bakugo gritted his teeth as he pushed harder.
Haru's tendril shot toward him, latching onto him. "I am temporarily increasing the production of your sweat. Don't overuse your quirk in the next 24 hours."
Katsuki grunted, equivalent to giving consent. With that, Haru made that change.
"I have an idea." Izuku suddenly spoke up. "Let's split up. The mass reduction should increase your three's speed for the same momentum generated."
"What about your two's landing? I don't think you will survive this height."
"We are dropping on this building. My quirk, along with Ida's burst, should be able to reduce our horizontal momentum by a decent margin." Izuku pointed at the building in front.
Due to Bakugo's explosions, their vertical speed was zero, so this plan was feasible.
"As expected of the man who used explosives as his personal launcher in the sports festival." Haru wanted to smile, but his face refused to do so.
Both Ida and Izuku dropped. "We will meet up in the hospital. Use Kaachan's phone to contact us."
BOOM
Katsuki made a big explosion, as they accelerated to an even terrifying speed. Combining this with near-zero air resistance, their speed continued increasing.
It wasn't long until the hospital came into view—a wide rooftop. Staff were already present, as if informed by someone beforehand.
They hit the rooftop hard but controlled. Bakugo killed his momentum at the last second, boots skidding. Haru dropped to his knees immediately, carefully lowering Toru onto the concrete.
"Critical condition! Move her to the ICU!" someone shouted.
Doctors and nurses rushed forward with a gurney. Hands replaced his. Toru's grip loosened.
"Stay with me," a nurse said urgently.
Toru didn't respond.
They wheeled her away at speed, voices overlapping, doors slamming shut behind them.
Haru stayed where he was.
His hands were shaking.
Blood—hers—covered them, now visible.
Bakugo awkwardly stood beside him, not knowing what to do. He wasn't close to Toru like Haru; in fact, there was a high chance that he didn't even know her actual name.
They soon moved outside the operating room, in the waiting area.
The television was mounted high on the hospital wall, volume turned low out of courtesy more than necessity.
Haru stood beneath it, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the screen. Bakugo leaned against the opposite wall, hands in his pockets, jaw tight. Neither of them spoke.
The broadcast showed a ruined area, smoke drifting between broken buildings. Three figures stood at its centre.
All Might.
And another hero.
Against a faceless villain.
They were close enough that the cameras caught their movements, their expressions, but not their voices. Whatever they were saying was lost to the distance and the wind.
Down in the corner of the screen, a caption scrolled:
MAJOR VILLAIN ENGAGEMENT — ALL MIGHT AND OVERCLOCK ON SITE
Bakugo squinted. "Overclock…?" It was the same hero who had sent him and others flying toward the hospital.
On screen, All Might gestured sharply, one hand raised as if insisting on something. His posture was rigid, defensive.
"You should leave. This is a battle that I need to overcome. Moreover, you would be mainly useless here." He bluntly said, not wanting her to get harmed.
The woman beside him didn't move.
She reached up and removed the glove from her right hand.
Bluish-black energy bled into the air around her fingers, crawling up her forearm like living static. The energy was way brighter compared to the time when she shot the students flying.
All For One's silhouette shifted at the edge of the frame.
He frowned.
"I won't be useless," Overclock said calmly, though the broadcast couldn't carry her voice. She flexed her glowing hand once. The air rippled. "This'll keep that ugly bastard on edge."
She took a step forward.
"This fight isn't just yours, Yagi," she continued. "I've been training for the last fifteen years, without missing a day." The energy thickened, humming now. "I feel like it's very close to the next level. If my quirk's going to awaken, it'll be here."
All Might turned toward her sharply.
She cut him off before he could argue.
"And don't push yourself," she added, tone flat. "My partner said you're running on fumes. Try not to shatter those old bones."
All Might's mouth tightened.
He didn't refute it.
One day earlier.
Sayaka Hado sat cross-legged on the couch, arms folded, eyes narrowed at the screen.
"This animation is trash," she said. "Six years. I waited six damn years for this?"
On the giant TV, a man could be seen 'sliding' through a ridge. She clicked her tongue and reached for the remote—
Her phone rang.
She glanced at the screen, her eyes narrowing, before she answered.
'Why is that rat calling me at 3 am?'
"What?"
Silence stretched.
Her posture changed first. Straightened. Shoulders tensed.
"…What do you mean, kidnapped?"
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Kiyomasa appeared at the landing, already reading her face.
She stood up slowly.
"…Both of them?" Her voice dropped. "Toru too?"
Her free hand clenched.
When the call ended, she didn't move for a second. She turned toward her husband. "What's happening?"
"They seem to have infiltrated the area where the forest camp occurred. The same group who were responsible for the U.S.J incident."
Sayaka blinked. "What? Those ruffians? What was the name again? League of.... retards?"
"League of Villains." Kiyomasa corrected her.
"That doesn't matter!" She snapped. "Didn't you say that you would look into the group's information? How are they not behind bars? And even dared to kidnap our baby!?" She outbursted.
"They were very careful with their information disclosure, leading me to believe that some mastermind was involved behind them. I wasn't able to confirm a large piece of information about them until this incident, through retracing the information of the new members. Also..." Kiyomasa hesitated.
"What?"
"Though I am not fully certain, there's a 73 per cent chance that All For One might be behind this."
Sayaka blinked again. Then—"Wasn't he dead?" she snapped. "I told that old man to check his body. Absolute brute. Useless piece of trash." She clenched her fist so tightly that the veins became visible on her fist.
Kiyomasa stepped closer. "Sayaka."
"If All For One touched my baby's quirk," she continued, already pacing, "I'll punch a hole through him. I don't care how many times he crawled out of hell."
"It's unlikely," Kiyomasa said evenly. "Haru's quirk is dangerous to interfere with. High risk. Even when Haru is unconscious. Knowing him, he won't do anything reckless like that."
Sayaka stopped.
Her jaw tightened.
"Good," she said. "Then I'll just break everything else."
***
Nezu's office door slammed open.
The reinforced hinges shrieked as the door rebounded against the wall, rattling the shelves. Papers lifted into the air from the pressure alone.
Nezu looked up from his desk.
All Might was mid-sentence.
Sayaka Hado stood in the doorway. In her hero suit.
Visor off. Hair loose. Eyes sharp enough to cut glass.
For half a second, no one spoke.
Then—
"Explain."
It wasn't loud. That made it worse.
Nezu's ears twitched. "Good evening, Sayaka—"
"Not a greeting," she snapped. "Explain why my son was kidnapped under your watch."
All Might straightened. "Sayaka, please—"
She turned her head just enough to acknowledge him.
"You," she said flatly, "don't get to say 'please' right now."
The room went still.
Aizawa didn't need an introduction.
The moment Sayaka Hado stepped into the room, he straightened fully, sleep-deprived posture forgotten. Not out of fear—out of habit.
"…Sensei," he said quietly.
Sayaka's eyes flicked to him.
***