The area was finally cordoned off.
The imdiate chaos of the attack had subsided several minutes earlier, but the atmosphere still felt heavy. Several streets remained blocked by police patrols, red and blue lights continued to reflect off nearby buildings, and smoke was still rising slowly from the wreckage of so damaged vehicles.
Most civilians had already left. So had to return to work. Others to their hos. And many had already managed to get enough footage to flood the internet for weeks.
Even so, several reporters remained crowded behind the tal barriers set up by the police. Cara flashes kept going off constantly as they tried to get any possible statent from the heroes present.
"Hawks! How are the students?!"
"Was the villain connected to other recent attacks?!"
"What kind of Quirk did that guy use?!"
"Will there be penalties for illegal use of Quirks?!"
One of the caran even tried to climb partially onto a patrol car to get a better shot before being imdiately pulled down by two irritated officers.
anwhile, the heroes continued working amid the rubble. Backdraft helped extinguish the last remaining pockets of fire while Kamui Woods coordinated the safe extraction of the villain trapped inside a maximum-security transport that had just arrived on the scene. Death Arms spoke with several officers as he pointed out destroyed sections of the avenue, likely reconstructing the full sequence of the incident.
And in the midst of it all…
Reiji remained seated on the edge of a portable stretcher.
His hands clasped together.
His eyes fixed on the ground.
The trembling had finally subsided thanks to the "Juice" that Hawks had practically forced him to drink in secret minutes earlier. The hunger was still there, buried deep beneath his skin, but at least he no longer felt like he was going to lose control because of the sll of blood all around him.
Shinso stood nearby, leaning against an ambulance with his arms crossed as he watched the whole scene with obvious discomfort. He was still processing too many things at once.
Reiji's behavior.
Hawks' reaction.
The tension among the heroes around them.
And above all… the feeling that he had just discovered sothing important about his friend that he had never imagined.
He didn't seem scared.
But he was restless.
A few ters away, Katsuki Bakugo was still receiving dical attention despite clearly being fed up with it. He had a blanket draped over his shoulders, a bandage crisscrossing part of his side, and remnants of his uniform still stuck to his body.
And yet he kept arguing.
"I already said I'm fine!"
"You need to be monitored for inhalation of unknown substances."
"Then monitor from a distance!"
One of the doctors literally snorted in exasperation before continuing to type data into a tablet.
Bakugo then barely looked up.
And he looked at Reiji again.
Once more.
He'd been doing it for several minutes.
As if he were still trying to understand exactly what the hell had just happened.
Reiji noticed the footsteps approaching even before he heard the voice.
Firm.
asured.
Unhurried.
"Na."
Reiji finally lifted his head.
Naomasa Tsukauchi was looking directly at him. His expression remained the sa professional calm as always, but there was too much focus behind those eyes to mistake it for re formality.
"Reiji Toga."
Tsukauchi nodded slightly as he quickly checked sothing on his electronic notebook.
"Age."
"Fourteen."
One of the police officers nearby raised his eyebrows slightly upon hearing that.
Because honestly… For a while now, several of them had seriously doubted that this boy was actually fourteen.
Tsukauchi continued.
"You're a high school student…" he said with absolute calm. "You don't have a provisional license, combat authorization, or advanced Quirk usage permits. And yet you decided to intervene directly against a high-risk villain right out in the open."
Reiji held his gaze without flinching.
"I know."
"Did you have authorization?"
"No."
"Then why did you do it?"
The question carried much more weight this ti.
Because it wasn't just protocol anymore.
Tsukauchi really wanted to hear him say it.
Reiji took a slow breath before answering.
"Because if I hadn't…" His voice ca out firm. "That boy would have died."
Bakugo stopped arguing with the doctors imdiately after hearing that.
Tsukauchi didn't look away either.
"And does that give you the right to ignore the law?"
"No."
The answer ca quickly.
No pride.
No defiance.
Just honesty.
"But I wasn't going to just stand there waiting for permission while soone was dying right in front of ."
Tsukauchi finally exhaled slowly before lowering the tablet slightly.
"I understand what you're trying to say," he replied calmly. "But protocols exist precisely for situations like this. If you'd lost control of that Quirk right in the middle of the avenue, we would have had a completely different disaster on our hands."
Shinso tensed his shoulders slightly upon hearing that.
Because now he understood perfectly well that Tsukauchi had indeed noticed what had happened earlier.
And probably several other heroes as well.
Reiji remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"I understand. I apologize for my behavior."
The apology was exactly what everyone wanted to hear—which was precisely why Reiji had said it.
Tsukauchi knew it imdiately.
And so did Hawks.
The hero stood a few ters back, fielding questions from the dia with a completely fake, relaxed smile while answering without revealing anything useful at all.
"No, we have no information on any organizations involved."
"No, no students were seriously injured."
"Legal protocols will be activated regarding the boy, but that will be discussed in private."
"And yes, it would be great if you'd stop trying to get under the police barriers."
The reporters kept bombarding him just the sa.
Because Hawks was Hawks.
And because this was too big to let slide.
But even as he spoke with them…
he kept discreetly watching the conversation between Tsukauchi and Reiji.
Always alert.
Tsukauchi finally spoke again.
"I'm not going to arrest you today."
Several police officers nearby barely looked up upon hearing that.
"Because you prevented a death," the detective continued. "Because you helped contain the situation. And because there are clearly heroes willing to back up what happened here."
His gaze shifted slightly toward Hawks.
The hero simply raised a hand from a distance without stopping his smile for the caras.
Tsukauchi imdiately turned his gaze back to Reiji.
"But listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you now." His tone hardened slightly. "The next ti you intervene outside the system without authorization, it won't matter how many people you save. You'll end up getting arrested anyway. Understood?"
Reiji held his gaze for a few seconds before nodding; it was the sa thing he'd heard from Aizawa a while back.
"Yes, sir."
Tsukauchi watched him for just a mont longer.
As if he wanted to say sothing else.
But he ended up tucking the tablet under his arm and turning to leave without adding anything else.
Silence hung in the air for a few seconds after he walked away.
Until Bakugo finally spoke from the other stretcher.
"...I could have gotten out on my own."
His voice was still hoarse from lack of air and clearly laced with wounded pride.
Reiji finally turned his gaze toward him.
He wasn't expecting thanks.
And honestly… Bakugo didn't seem like the type to offer them right now either.
So he simply replied:
"Sure."
***
The front door had barely closed behind him when Himiko's voice exploded down the hallway.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"
The scream echoed through practically the entire house.
Reiji didn't even flinch.
He'd been ntally prepared for this from the exact mont he saw the caras focused on him during the incident. He'd known imdiately that he'd end up on national television before he'd even left the avenue.
Still… hearing it inside his own ho was different.
Himiko was standing at the end of the hallway, her uniform still partially disheveled, as if she'd just arrived and hadn't had ti to really settle in. Her hair was a bit tousled, her eyes visibly irritated, and her breathing slightly rapid, likely after spending hours watching news reports, footage, and rumors about the attack.
"Do you think it's normal to appear on TV covered in blood, fighting a villain who's kidnapped soone?!" She continued advancing toward Reiji without lowering her voice. "What was I supposed to think when I saw that?!"
Reiji barely opened his mouth.
And then he closed it again.
Because honestly, he didn't have a good answer.
His mother appeared right behind Himiko, still holding the phone in her hands. Her eyes were still slightly red, and the tension on her face made it pretty clear she'd been distressed for a very long ti.
"That happens to you and you can barely bring yourself to call!" she said quickly, before Reiji could even speak. "Plus, that was almost an hour later, Reiji! An hour of watching the news where they were talking about prison, blood, fires, murder, and a thousand other things!"
Her voice cracked slightly at the end.
And that hit much harder than Himiko's screams.
Her mother ca over imdiately as soon as she saw him standing still by the entrance and began checking his face, shoulders, and arms almost on reflex, as if she still expected to find serious injuries hidden under his clothes.
"Are you hurt?" she asked quickly. "Did they check you over properly? Where did you get hit? Does anything hurt?"
"I'm fine," Reiji replied, trying to keep his voice calm.
"That doesn't an anything!" Himiko imdiately chid in again. "You always say you're fine!"
And she was right.
All three of them knew it.
Reiji lowered his gaze for a few seconds as he felt the tension building inside the house. Even the atmosphere seed different. Heavier. More sensitive.
The TV was still on in the living room.
The news was still reporting on the attack.
A still image of the villain appeared on the screen while headlines about the "mysterious student" involved in the incident scrolled across the bottom.
Himiko took another step closer.
"You could have died!" Her voice no longer sounded just angry. It sounded genuinely shaken. "That monster was huge, there were explosions everywhere, and you were literally right in the middle of it!"
Reiji finally looked up at her, his eyes trying to form a genuine apology but failing in the attempt.
The house fell silent for a few seconds.
Even Himiko stopped talking.
Because part of her probably already knew exactly what the answer would be.
"I'm sorry to worry you, but…" Reiji's voice ca out much lower this ti. Much less firm. "If I hadn't intervened, that boy wouldn't have made it out alive."
The words hung heavily in the air.
Himiko imdiately clenched her fists.
She wanted to keep scolding him.
It was perfectly obvious.
But she also knew that Reiji would have done the sa even if the whole town had forbidden it. She might even have asked him to do it herself if she'd been there during the incident.
That was precisely what was so frustrating.
Because she understood why he'd intervened.
Her mother slowly exhaled before bringing a hand to her face.
"I'm not saying you did anything wrong…" she murmured, trying to calm herself a little. "It's just… just seeing you there was horrible."
Reiji barely swallowed.
Because hearing that was much worse than any scolding.
Then he finally spoke again.
"I'm sorry."
The words made Himiko imdiately look up at him.
"I really thought I could handle it better," he continued, this ti looking directly at both of them. "I didn't want to worry you."
"Well, congratulations," Himiko murmured, still shaken. "You did a terrible job."
The phrase sounded so genuinely emotional that even Reiji ended up letting out sothing resembling a small, weary sigh.
His father then appeared from the back of the house.
Unlike the rest, he didn't seem outwardly upset.
Just tired.
And worried.
He approached slowly until he was standing in front of Reiji, then looked directly at him for a full few seconds.
As if making sure he was really there.
Finally, he placed a firm hand on his shoulder and pulled him close in a brotherly embrace.
"You did the right thing."
Simple.
Direct.
Exactly the kind of approval soone like him would give.
But even so, the man sighed shortly afterward.
"That doesn't an we want to see you on TV fighting monsters again, not without first going through a hero academy and getting your license. You're still a civilian, and more importantly…" The father stepped back slightly, his face firm but gentle. "You're still our son."
Reiji let out a small exhale through his nose.
"I'll try to avoid it."
"You better," Himiko muttered imdiately.
The initial tension was slowly beginning to break as fear gave way to the accumulated exhaustion of the entire afternoon.
Then Himiko frowned slightly as she looked him up and down again.
"…Did you eat anything?"
Reiji remained silent for half a second too long.
And that was enough.
"He didn't eat a thing!" Himiko imdiately turned toward the kitchen. "Mom, heat up what we left."
"It's not necessary—" Reiji tried to correct her, but he didn't finish his sentence when his sister cut him off.
"Yes, it is," she interrupted him imdiately without even looking at him. "You look terrible."
"Thanks."
"That wasn't a complint."
His mother was already heading toward the kitchen as well, still partially wiping her eyes.
"There's still so hot soup..." she murmured, almost out of maternal instinct. "And rice. I made you so tea, too."
"I'm fine, really."
All three of them looked at him exactly the sa way after hearing that.
Even his father.
And honestly…
Reiji imdiately realized he had no chance of escaping this.
Himiko finally stepped closer again until she was standing right in front of him. Much calr now, but still clearly shaken.
"Reiji..." she murmured, this ti much more quietly. "You might be okay, but we're not... So just shut up and listen."
Her words hit him much harder than he'd expected.
Because she ant every word.
And he knew it.
Reiji looked away for just a few seconds before answering.
"I understand... thank you."
The warmth of a family—a comforting and priceless feeling.
"Co eat before I get mad again."
"I'm coming."
***
If you like it, leave your power stones to unlock the extra chapters, or if you don't want to wait, you can support by buying breakfast for more chapters.
Support the project for just $2 USD. → [patreon/MisterCreator]
User Comments
0 comments from readers