The head of the hero commission was an older woman named Rika Amamiya.
And right now, she sat alone in her office, the faint glow of the monitors casting long shadows across the room. It was late, far past the time any reasonable person would be working, but sleep had eluded her for days. She folded her hands in front of her, her sharp blue eyes scanning the reports displayed on the central screen.
The game orchestrated by Daigo Kiyoshi, Proxy, had plunged the nation into chaos. Over the past week, nearly every corner of hero society had been shaken to it's core. Hundreds, no thousands of prisoners had vanished without a trace, their locations confirmed only when their faces appeared on the broadcasted footage of the game world.
Among them were some of the most dangerous individuals the system had ever locked away. Heroes too, were missing and worse yet, students. Bright, promising children from hero academies all over the country had been dragged into this nightmare.
The calls from frantic parents haunted her. Voices cracked with fear, some shouting accusations while others wept for answers she couldn't provide. She leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the latest statistics. Several hero schools, overwhelmed by the backlash, had started to suspend operations entirely.
UA, the pinnacle of hero education, was not immune. Public outcry was mounting as parents demanded to pull their children out. The idea of even merging hero schools was already being whispered in meetings. Even if every child returned unharmed, the current system might collapse under the weight of public distrust.
But that wasn't their immediate concern.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard before pulling up the next file. The footage played on the central monitor, Lady Nagant. Once a trusted hero and HPSC operative, Nagant's fall from grace had been swift and merciless, and her presence easily replaceable by the rising prospect in Hawks.
Rika knew the charges against her were fabricated, but the web of corruption in the commission's past had obscured the truth. Now, there she was, an unwitting player in a twisted game, dispatching a Nomu. Her skills, honed by the HPSC, had not dulled in prison.
Rika did want to find a way to help her, but she couldn't. Due to the rules in place she couldn't even interfere on things set in place before her instatement. Unless it was still ongoing, Nagant was a lost cause made to serve time she didn't really deserve.
The Nomu problem though. Rika had seen that it was the work of the villain Twice. He was able to clone them, not a small amount, probably even more than what was reported in Hosu before people were teleported into the game. The league had an audience for their atrocities. She clenched her jaw, disgusted by the spectacle.
It was all too much to process, the disappearances, the growing public unrest, the whispers of treachery within her own ranks. She confirmed that the HPSC was complicit in facilitating the game. Uniforms, support gear, and other items tagged for transportation had passed through her organizations hands. She had signed off on some of these approvals herself, unknowingly providing Kiyoshi the tools he needed.
Her intercom buzzed. "Hawks is here," her assistant's voice announced.
"Send him in." Rika replied, her voice steady despite hurricane inside her.
The door opened, and Hawks stepped in, his usual easygoing demeanour replaced by a grim determination. He closed the door behind him, his wings folded tightly against his back.
"President," he greeted, his voice subdued. "this situation is spiralling. I've been running myself ragged trying to chase down leads, but this thing... it's bigger than anything that's been dealt with before."
"Sit," she instructed, gesturing to the chair opposite her desk.
Hawks complied, his golden eyes locking onto hers. "What's the latest?"
She sighed and turned one of the monitors towards him. "Some smaller schools are shutting down. Parents are demanding answers we can't give. But that is the least of our concerns."
She pulled up a chart. "This is the list of prisoners confirmed to be in the game. Among them are multiple high-threat individuals, Abyss, Seraph, Bloodmoon... and Lady Nagant."
Hawks leaned forward, his expression darkening. "Surprised that she's still alive."
"Not just alive," Rika admitted. "Now she's fighting a death game and stacking up points. She's still the operative she was trained to be."
Hawks watched in silence for a moment, his mood a little downcast but he done a good job at hiding it. "She was wronged." he said quietly. "We both know that."
"I know. And now she's fighting in a survival game partly orchestrated by the very system that betrayed her. The irony isn't lost on me."
"What's our move?" Hawks asked.
"We uproot the system," the chairman said firmly. "I've already started an internal investigation. Many members of the HPSC had to be complicit for this to happen. Prison uniforms, hero support gear, even materials for clothing stores... these things don't move without approval from high-level officials. I need you to help me identify every last one of them. When the time comes, they will face justice."
Hawks nodded. "You can count on me. But what about Daigo Kiyoshi? He's the puppet master here."
"Finding him is still your top priority," Rika confirmed. "He's the key to everything that has been set in place. Use any resources you need. Bringing him in will allow us to start unravelling everything."
Hawks sat back, his wings, twitching slightly. "The country's on edge. The lockdowns, the disappearances, the broadcasts... people are starting to panic. We're one step away from anarchy."
"I know." Rika said, her voice heavy. "But we can't afford to act recklessly. Every decision we make now will define hero society for years to come. This isn't just about stopping Kiyoshi. It's about restoring trust."
Hawks leaned forward, his eyes blazing with determination. "I'll find him. I swear it. No matter what it takes."
Rika nodded. "Good. Because if we don't, everything we've built, everything we stand for... will crumble."
____
Day three, after the last rule has been added. So Kodai and I will be separated. The thought rattled in my mind like loose change in a tin can. But that's fine, I gave her that paper bracelet that I can trace.
"What's the plan?" Kodai asked.
"Keep moving, until we find some of your classmates maybe. That and keep an eye out for those artifacts we need to get out of here." We would also need to change our points, but we can just transfer them now. So that's okay. "And don't die."
She shot me a look, half amused, half exasperated. "You're a real optimist, you know that."
"It's part of my charm."
Kodai decided against staying in establishments like a hotels or even houses since there was a chance that normal civilians would be doing so and we may bring unwanted attention. So instead we had woken up in a bakery this morning, the air thick with the scent of flour.
"You hear that?" she whispered,
I tilted my head, listening. The quiet morning air carried faint murmurs, the kind that made your gut tighten in anticipation. I nodded toward the door. Kodai moved silently as she approached.
A group of teenagers all huddled together in the shadow of a leaning billboard. Considering the fact that they still had uniforms on, they were all school students, ones from different schools too, the only uniforms I recognized were the UA one's.
Navy, burgundy, white. All a mismatched collage of schools. But none of them were fighters. They were wide eyed students caught in a nightmare. Some holding anything in their hands like a weapon, like steel pipes, mops and sticks.
There were weird creatures roaming around recently that kodai and I ran into on our way to the bakery, she called them Nomu. I recognized the name from the reports leaked from the attack on the USJ.
One of them, a boy with glasses too large for his face, spotted us first. He froze, his grip tightening on the mop handle. "Hey!" he called out, his voice cracking.
The others turned towards us, their expressions shifting from fear to tentative relief. A girl stepped forward, her braids swaying as she moved. She wore a UA uniform, her gaze flickered between Kodai and me, cautious but hopeful.
"Are you heroes?" she asked, her voice steady but there was a tremor in her hands.
I glanced at Kodai, who gave me a small nod. "Not exactly," I said. "But we're not villains either. Are you guys okay?"
The girl exhaled, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "As okay as we can be. We've been hiding anywhere we could since this whole thing started. Some of us got separated but more people joined. We're not players so we don't have to get involved in the madness, but, we're still just free points."
I scanned the group. No obvious quirks that would make them capable of for defense. They were lucky to have made it this far.
"Alright. We should stay here..." Kodai clapped her hands to bring attention to her. "This place is too exposed."
"We know a place." I added. "A hotel a few blocks down. It's not perfect, but it will give us some cover."
The group exchanged glances. Their fear was tangible, hanging in the air like smoke.
"You're safe with us," Kodai reassured. "We'll get you there."
The girl hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Lead the way."
_____
Broken glass glinted in the fading light, and the distant sound behind me of shifting debris kept my nerves taut. The students stayed close, their footsteps timid against the pavement. Kodai walked beside them, her presence a steady anchor.
A boy who says he's from Seijin Academy sidled up to me, his hand clutching a wrench like a lifeline. "Are you guys heroes in training?"
"Something like that." I replied, keeping my eyes on the road ahead.
"That's cool," he said, a faint smile breaking through his fear. "I wanted to be a support engineer, build hero gear. But I can't really do anything here."
"Don't sell yourself short." I said. "Half the battles having the right tools, you'll have your time to shine."
He nodded, his expression softening. It wasn't much, but in a place like this I learned that even small reassurances mattered.
The hotel came into view, a hulking shadow against the light. Kodai signalled for the group to wait as she approached the entrance where she met a duo that had already been there. And from what I could here, were there with a bunch of other civilians already.
Inside the lobby was quiet. Kodai moved with the group through the space like a veteran. She checked every corner, testing the stability of the staircase.
"Thank you for letting the stay here." she thanked the tall girl that was a mutant of some kind of giraffe.
They were then led inside, guided to the upper floors. The students spread, relief palpable as they sank onto the dusty beds and chairs.
Good. They looked more comfortable now, happy even.
"Stay here," Kodai instructed. "Stick together. Don't open the doors unless you hear voices of people you know."
"What about you?" The girl with the braids asked.
"We can't stay for long," I said. "There are things we need to find so we can leave this place already."
The girl nodded, her gratitude evident in her eyes. "Thank you."
_____
It was warm, and the sun cast a golden glow over the streets. The air was still, the kind of stillness that made everything feel fragile. Despite everything, the light felt almost mocking, it's brightness stark against the shadows lingering in my mind.
For a while, we walked in silence, our steps falling into an unspoken rhythm. The quiet wasn't uncomfortable. The occasional whisper of wind stirred the dust and debris, carrying with it the faint scent of smoke and decay. Overhead, the sky stretched endlessly, it's pale blue unmarred by clouds, as if nature itself refused to acknowledge the chaos below.
"You're good with people," Kodai said suddenly, her voice snapped through the quiet like a gentle pluck of string.
I snorted, glancing at her from the corner of my eye. "Not really. I just say what I feel they need to hear."
She tilted her head, a small smile tugging her lips. "That's a talent in itself."
I didn't answer, letting her words flow. Talent? Maybe. But I have a talent for many things. So maybe it was just a talent to keep people at an arms length. We kept walking, the echoes of our footsteps mingling with the distant sounds of the city, a car alarm blaring somewhere far off, the occasional creak of a building.
My gaze drifted to Kodai, who walked a step ahead of me. Her posture was steady, her movements deliberate, but there was a tension in her shoulders, a weariness that mirrored my own.
"Kobe." She said suddenly, her voice was soft, almost hesitant. I don't know if this is the first time she's called out my given name.
I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
She hesitated, her pace slowing as she turned to face me. Her eyes, usually so guarded, held a glimmer of vulnerability. "Call me Yui."
The words caught me off guard. For a moment, I didn't know what to say. "Yui?" I repeated, testing the name on my tongue.
She nodded, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. "Yeah. You've earned the right."
I smiled at that. Something in my chest tightened, a sensation I couldn't quite name. "Alright," I said finally. "Yui."
Her smile was different then. It was warm. For a fleeting second, the weight of the game, the fear of uncertainty, seemed to lift. It was as though, in that moment, we were just two people walking through a city, untethered by the misery and fear surrounding us.
We reached a small ledge where the ground had split, jagged concrete forming a barrier between us and the main road. I climbed ahead. I looked back down at Yui, the sunlight caught her hair, turning it into a halo of gold. I watched for a moment, something in my chest tightening again.
"You gonna help, or just stand there?" she called, glancing up at me with a teasing grin.
I shook my head, a smirk tugging at my lips as I stepped forward. "Alright, princess, hold on."
Reaching out, I offered my hand. Her fingers brushed mine, warm and steady, and after a second, the world felt grounded, as though all the chaos and noise had been stripped away.
~Choom~
A sound, sharp, high pitched, like the whine of a mosquito amplified a thousand times, cut through the air. My instincts screamed at me, but I wasn't fast enough. The moment her fingers clasped mine, her body jerked violently, her grip faltering as she stumbled backward.
"Yui!"
Time fractured. The sun seemed to dim, the light bleeding out of the world as my focus now narrowed to her. She crumpled to the ground, her legs giving out beneath her. It was only then I saw it: the dark, wet stain spreading across her chest, a perfect circle of crimson blooming against the fabric of her shirt.
"No." The word escaped me in a whisper, barely audible over the roaring in my ears. "No, no, no."
I dropped to my knees beside her, my hands trembling as I pressed them against the wound. Blood seeped between my fingers, warm and slick, staining my palms. Her eyes fluttered open, wide and glassy, and for a moment, they locked onto mine. There was fear in them, yes, but something else too. Something fragile and fleeting, like the last light of a dying star.
"Keep your eyes open." I pleaded. "Stay with me.... Yui..."
But her hand... Yui's hand, trembling reached for mine. Her fingers brushed my palm, sticky with her own blood, before clutching it as tightly as she could manage. It wasn't much, a faint squeeze, but it felt like the weight of the world.
Her lips moved, a soft, broken sound escaping. "I... don't... want to die..." Her voice was a small, barely a whisper, but the words struck like thunder, each syllable slicing through me.
"You're not going to die." I said, though the lie tasted bitter on my tongue. Paper formed instinctively, wrapping over the wound, desperate to stitch and absorb the blood, but it wasn't enough. The hole was too wide, the damage too deep. The paper crumbled against the tide of crimson, falling like everything else.
"I'm sorry..." she choked, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her voice cracked as she fought to stay conscious, her body trembling beneath my hands. "I'm sorry..."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I said, my voice trembling, though I wasn't sure if she could hear me anymore. Her grip on my hand weakened, the pressure fading like sand slipping through my fingers.
Her lips moved again, shaping a final word, but no sound came out. I leaned closer, desperate to hear her, to catch whatever she was trying to say. She mouthed it again, her gaze locked on mine.
"Yui..." my throat closed around her name as her head fell limp to the side. Her eyes stared up at me, wide and unseeing.
The laugh that followed was low and guttural, dripping with malice. It cut through the air like a blade, shattering the fragile silence that had settled over us.
I looked up, my vision blurred by tears and the haze of rage building up in my chest. High above, perched on a swirling cloud was Abyss. His silhouette loomed grotesquely against the bright blue sky, a cruel parody of a God surveying his creation. His grin stretched unnaturally wide, his teeth glinting like shards of broken glass.
Beside him another figure, a boy, no older than me, with an air of clumsiness and ignorance that made my blood boil.
They had killed her.
My mind spiralled, every thought and emotion tangling in a storm of grief and fury. Yui's blood still coated my hands, warm and sticky, as though it were trying to anchor me to the reality of her death. But I couldn't stay grounded. My chest burned, the heat rising like a tidal wave that threatened to consume me.
"You..." The word tore from my throat, venomous as I stood. My body moved without thought.
The sky blindingly bright as I propelled myself upward, the wind tearing at my face. My fist clenched, my quirk activating almost reflexively as paper burst around me like wings of destruction. Each beat of my heart echoed in my ears, a war drum driving me forward.
But then light came.
It was sudden and all-consuming, a blinding radiance that swallowed the world whole. My body was yanked back, the sensation of teleportation wrenching me from the sky and away from Yui's lifeless form.
"No!" I roared, thrashing against the pull.
The world had already shifted. The memory of her face, the light fading from her eyes, the blood soaking her shirt, seared itself into my mind like a brand. Her last words, unheard and unfinished, echoed in the silence of my thoughts, haunting me as the light finally took me.
YUI.