….
Dabi ended up staying in the hospital for a week.
Yeah.
Gran Torino just wouldn't let him discharge earlier, no matter how much he argued that he was fine.
The old man had that stubborn look in his eyes, the one that said arguing was pointless - so Dabi gave up and stayed put.
In the meantime, he remained in the same room as All Might.
Gran Torino had introduced him properly on the second day. Not as All Might, the Symbol of Peace, but as Toshinori Yagi.
Just a man, someone Gran Torino knew from his Hero days.
Dabi played along.
He introduced himself as Dabi Torino, though he didn't offer his history, and Toshinori didn't pry- at least, not out loud.
But Dabi wasn't blind.
He saw the way the Symbol of Peace looked at him when he thought Dabi was sleeping. There was a weight in Toshinori's gaze - a mixture of horror and profound guilt.
Gran Torino had clearly filled in the blanks regarding the 'Sekoto Peak Accident.'
And to Toshinori, Dabi wasn't just a dying boy. He was the living evidence of a fellow hero's catastrophic failure.
….
Anyway, after that second day when Nighteye had walked out, he never came back.
The absence was noticeable.
All Might would glance at the door sometimes, like he was expecting someone who wouldn't arrive.
The week passed slowly.
….
Finally, discharge day came.
Coincidentally, it was also the same day All Might was getting released.
The Symbol of Peace looked... okay, mostly.
Still thin as a rail in his true form, but stable. The occasional coughing fit was the only real sign something was wrong - which, ironically, was similar to Dabi's own situation.
During that week in the hospital, Dabi hadn't stopped training.
He couldn't do much physical work, the nurses would have his head, but he practiced his breathing technique constantly.
In bed, while walking the halls, during meals.
Every spare moment was spent refining the rhythm, pushing the limits of how long he could maintain it.
The results showed.
====
[BREATH OF THE SUN] - 53/100%
====
He had noticed something interesting: the percentage had jumped significantly in the past few days.
More than it had in months of regular training.
Was it because he had pushed himself to the absolute limit running to Kamino?
Using the breathing technique for that prolonged period while his body was already damaged?
Whatever the reason, it had been effective… and if it wasn't for this–
====
| Life Span Left - 197 Days
====
He lost a total of 215 days…
He shook his head, clearing the thoughts.
….
After getting discharged and parting ways in the hospital lobby, All Might, Toshinori, caught up to him at the exit.
"Young Dabi." he said, his voice gentle. "May I ask… why is it you want to become a Hero?"
Dabi stopped walking.
The question hung in the air between them. Why did he want to become a hero?
The practical answer was on the tip of his tongue: Because a license means the police stop chasing me when I use my quirk.
But looking at Toshinori, that answer felt like a lie.
He thought about the 204 days left in his life. He thought about the fact that he had run until his blood turned to vinegar just to make sure a retired old man was okay.
Dabi is aware that he didn't have a grand dream of saving everyone with a smile. He was a boy who had been discarded, trying to build a masterpiece out of the scrap metal that was left of his life.
His face must have shown indecision because Toshinori's expression shifted to something sad.
Understanding, maybe. Toshinori thought.
But still looking at the young man in front of him with no clear goal except to survive one more day, it made everything harder.
It wasn't that Toshinori didn't believe Dabi could become a Hero.
He could see the potential there - the determination, discipline, and strength of character.
With time and proper guidance, Dabi could become a great Hero.
But he needed more than potential.
He needed a stronger reason…. a spark.
Something beyond just wanting a license or having a vague goal to fill the emptiness.
Toshinori was positive that one day, Dabi would find that spark. He just didn't know how far away it was, or if the kid had enough time to reach it.
Dabi didn't answer the question.
He just nodded politely and walked away with Gran Torino, leaving Toshinori standing at the hospital entrance.
As they headed toward the parking lot, Dabi glanced back.
Not because of the question, he had already brushed that off, filed it away as something to think about never.
No, he looked back because All Might's retreating figure looked incredibly lonely.
It wasn't the skeletal form or the weakened state.
It was something deeper than that.
The man just looked... alone.
Like he was carrying a weight no one else could see.
Dabi turned away and kept walking.
….
Two more years passed.
Dabi, he had fully embraced the name by now - trained like hell.
And he meant that literally.
After getting discharged from the hospital, he had stopped holding back entirely.
Before, he had been careful, measured in his training.
Now? He pushed past every limit, broke through every wall, and didn't stop even when his body screamed at him to quit.
Currently, he is training in a forest area outside the city.
Perfect for the kind of intense training that would get him arrested if he did it in public.
He stood in front of a massive gourd, the biggest one he had been able to find - as he was about to take a deep breath…
"Are you certain about this?" Someone behind him asked. "I still don't see how a person could break something like that just by blowing air into it."
Dabi turned slightly; it was a woman he knew all too well.
Rumi Usagiyama - Rabbit Hero.
Up close, she didn't look like the Mirko he remembered.
Younger - noticeably so.
Four years younger, at least. The hard edges time would eventually carve into her face weren't there yet.
Her features were sharper, cleaner, the scars fewer, the exhaustion not quite settled into her eyes.
White hair tied back, long ears twitching slightly with impatience. Muscles defined but not overworked, Hero costume hugging every line without apology.
…Yeah.
He had to admit it.
She was smoking hot.
Between she was the one who helped him transport this final gourd here in one pieces
"Nothing is impossible." he replied flatly. "You said the same thing about the first two gourds."
It was difficult to counter that absurd logic, so she let it go and stepped aside, deciding to watch him instead.
For a brief moment, her thoughts drifted to the strange way their lives had first intersected.
In his first year at U.A., Dabi had been forgettable.
A Support Course student - practically invisible beside the Hero Course prodigies who drew all the attention. He kept his head down, absorbed what he needed, and trained relentlessly in private, pushing himself far beyond what anyone saw.
And yet, somehow, their paths had crossed.
She had been a third-year in the Hero Course when he had only just enrolled. By all logic, they existed in separate spheres - different courses, priorities, and worlds.
But U.A. ran a cross-mentorship program, pairing upperclassmen with underclassmen for joint training sessions.
"Learning from seniors." they called it.
Rumi hadn't even known someone like Dabi existed until that day.
The structure was simple: upperclassmen would spar with juniors to demonstrate proper technique and controlled application of their quirks. It was less about winning and more about instruction.
She rotated through students quickly.
Most lasted no more than thirty seconds before she put them down - not out of cruelty, but efficiency.
Her Rabbit Quirk granted explosive leg strength and speed; overwhelming pressure was the lesson.
Then it was Dabi's turn.
He looked normal at first.
Weak, even, with those burns covering his skin and the way he moved carefully like his body might break.
She had almost felt a flicker of guilt preparing to engage.
Then, in a heartbeat, something shifted.
His speed increased and so did his reflexes and strength.
He evaded her opening kick - the first underclassman that day to do so - and pivoted into a counterstrike that would have landed cleanly had she not blocked on instinct.
And just as suddenly, it ended.
He collapsed, coughing up blood, the surge gone as quickly as it had come.
Rumi remained where she stood, unsettled - and faintly disappointed.
What was that? A burst-type enhancement quirk? If so, it had burned through him in seconds, leaving his body to pay the price.
The instructors stepped in and the rotation resumed.
She moved on to the next student.
And she forgot about the burned Support Course kid.
….
Until his second year.
The U.A. Sports Festival is a national spectacle for first-years - cameras, sponsorships, live broadcasts.
The same cannot be said for the upper grades. Second- and third-year events are conducted privately, with no public stream or circulating footage.
Coming to the point, that year–
A Support Course student took first place.
Dabi Torino - the burned kid she had sparred with once and promptly dismissed.
Rumi requested access to the internal recordings. She watched the matches alone, replaying certain moments, trying to pinpoint what she had overlooked.
He used that same technique - the sudden burst of speed and strength - but he managed it for longer periods.
Still hurt himself doing it and coughed up blood between matches, but he had pushed through and claimed victory against Hero course students who should have demolished him.
Witnessing his capabilities, the school had transferred him to the Hero course for his final year.
An unprecedented move.
That was when Rumi's interest truly ignited.
By then, she had graduated and started her Pro Hero career.
One year of experience under her belt, making a name for herself with a quirk that wasn't particularly impressive on paper - just rabbit-based physical enhancements and instincts.
But she had built momentum through grit and relentless aggression.
When internship season arrived, she offered Dabi a position at her agency.
Her decision was more out of curiosity than anything else.
She wanted to see what this underclassman was actually capable of when pushed.
She hadn't expected him to accept, students generally prefer flashy Heroes with powerful quirks and big agencies.
She was still relatively unknown, and building her brand.
But he had said yes.
That's how their relationship started.
And the disappointment followed soon after…
….
.
[To be continued…]
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[Author: Mass Releasing the first 7 chapters!!]