The private jet moved calmly through the skies, leaving I-Island farther and farther behind.
Outside the window, the ocean stretched out in shades of deep blue, shining beneath the morning light. The clouds drifted slowly below the aircraft, like a distant white carpet.
Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was calm.
Ryo was sitting beside the window, his elbow resting on the armrest and his hand holding up his face. His eyes were open, but completely lost sowhere that definitely was not the plane.
In his head, the image of lissa smiled beneath the festival lights.
The light-blue dress.
The blond hair tied with that small bow.
The way she had pulled his hand.
The way she had blushed after the fireworks.
And then, as if his mind had decided to betray him on purpose, the mory of the kiss on the cheek returned.
Ryo blinked slowly.
His face began to heat up.
In his mory, lissa approached again, only this ti she was not aiming for his cheek. Her face ca closer, her eyes shining, her lips—
Ryo suddenly straightened his posture.
"No."
He rubbed his hand over his face hard, as if trying to erase his own mind.
"No, no, no. Stop that..."
He looked out the window, pretending the ocean was extrely interesting.
But his cheek still felt warm.
Ryo brought two fingers to the spot where lissa had kissed him the night before. The simple touch was enough to make him blush again.
"What's wrong with today…?" he murmured quietly.
He had not managed to sleep properly the night before.
Every ti he closed his eyes, he rembered her.
Her voice.
Her smile.
And then the kiss—
"STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT SHIT, MAN!"
Ryo let out a heavy sigh and sank a little deeper into his seat.
"lissa…" he murmured, almost accusing the air. "You woke sothing in that I would rather have left asleep."
Beside him, Anan was completely unaware of the boy's internal drama.
She was watching a soap opera on the seat monitor, wearing headphones, but with the volu low enough to still pay attention to her surroundings. Ryo turned his face toward her out of pure instinct, maybe looking for so kind of distraction.
Anan noticed his gaze.
She took off one side of her headphones and smiled.
"Ah, are you interested?"
Ryo blinked.
"In what?"
"The soap opera." She pointed at the screen. "It's very dramatic. That man there just found out that his wife was the long-lost sister of his cousin's fiancée, but also she wasn't because the hospital tests were switched. But the one who switched the tests was the man's great-grandmother, in an attempt to erase his wife, revealing that she is actually his aunt."
Ryo stared at the screen for a few seconds, managing to catch only the first and last words.
In the scene, the characters were on a sunny beach, laughing between one absurd argunt and another.
"That sounds... complicated."
"It's wonderful," Anan said, excited. "It makes no sense at all, but it's wonderful in a silly way."
Ryo looked more closely at the scenery on the screen.
Clear sand.
Crystal-clear water.
Open sky.
The kind of place that seed to exist only in expensive advertisents.
Anan sighed, resting her chin on her hand.
"It would be great to have ti to go sowhere like that. Maybe the Maldives."
"Maldives?"
"Yes. Beautiful beaches, transparent water, real rest…" She smiled sideways. "But work never allows it. If one day I have ti, maybe I'll take you with . You need to learn what it ans to actually take a break."
Ryo kept looking at the screen.
And he imagined himself in the Maldives.
The fresh air.
The sound of the sea.
The warm sand.
Crystal-clear waters.
Anan walking along the beach, laughing peacefully, wearing a biki—
Ryo's fist struck his own face with a dry sound.
SMACK!
The noise echoed through the cabin like a gunshot.
Anan ripped her headphones off imdiately.
"Ryo?!"
So passengers and mbers of the flight crew looked over in alarm.
Ryo remained still, his fist still pressed against his own face, his head slightly turned from the impact. A thin stream of blood began to run from his nose.
Anan imdiately leaned closer, worried.
"What's gotten into you?! Are you okay?!"
Ryo slowly lowered his fist.
"I am."
"You just punched yourself!"
"It was a mosquito."
Anan stared at the blood running from his nose.
"A mosquito?"
"Yes."
"But blood is coming out of your nose."
Ryo wiped it with the back of his hand, trying to keep the most serious expression possible.
"It's from the mosquito, I told you."
Anan kept staring at him.
"Ryo, that is definitely not mosquito blood!"
He looked away toward the window.
"It was a really fat mosquito."
"You are worrying more than usual, and that's hard."
Ryo grabbed a tissue and pressed it against his nose, ignoring the curious looks around him.
Inside, however, his mind was still collapsing.
"I think after yesterday…"
He shut his eyes tightly.
"My mind is never going to be the sa again."
Anan continued watching him, suspicious and worried, while Ryo remained motionless, the tissue pressed against his nose, staring at the ocean through the window as if he were at war with his own thoughts.
Puberty had finally arrived for Ryo Tanaka.
----------------------------------------
In an underground room at the D.S.C.S. central headquarters, several screens occupied the main wall.
The lights were low, while around the table there were n and won in dark suits watching, in silence, the footage coming from I-Island.
One of the screens showed Ryo being thrown out of the I-Tower by the Sentinels.
Another displayed several green flashes on the horizon.
Another showed electromagnetic pulses crossing the island and partially cutting off the power.
On a larger screen, the frozen image showed the mont Ryo descended onto Wolfram's tallic colossus, surrounded by an intense green aura.
No one spoke for a few seconds.
Then Tetsuma Morita, director of the Departnt of Disaster Response and Containnt of High-Risk Quirks, broke the silence.
"The data received from I-Island confirms multiple energy spikes above the permitted limits for public Quirk operation."
He turned a page of the report.
"There are also thermal and luminous records that so analysts have preliminarily classified as compatible with a low-scale nuclear detonation."
The word made the room feel even heavier.
"Nuclear...?" one of the councilwon murmured.
On the other side of the table, Hiroshi Kagemura, Chief Minister of National Security, remained silent. His fingers were intertwined on the table, and his expression was far too calm for the weight of what was being discussed.
Morita continued:
"If this leaks, we will have an international problem. A Japanese student carrying out a nuclear attack on foreign territory, even in an ergency situation, will be interpreted in many ways. Few of them good."
An aide nearby placed another video on the screen.
The footage showed Ryo kicking Wolfram's colossus out of the city, launching it all the way to the edge of the island before the final attack in the ocean.
Morita pointed at the recording.
"And here is my greatest concern. He could have destroyed part of the island if he had miscalculated."
Kagemura finally raised his gaze.
"But he did not miscalculate."
Morita turned to him.
"Chief Kagemura, with all due respect, that does not change the fact that he almost turned an urban battle into a nuclear disaster."
"I know that", Kagemura replied calmly.
"Then you understand why I am concerned."
"I understand perfectly."
Kagemura leaned slightly forward.
"But I am certain the boy also understood perfectly how dangerous it was."
Morita frowned.
Kagemura pointed at the screen.
"That is why he kicked the villain out of the city."
The video went back a few seconds and once again showed the colossus being launched from the urban area to the edge of the island.
"He knew there were people around, so he removed the target from the urban center first. Only after that did he use the highest-intensity strike to defeat him, already over the ocean."
The room fell silent.
Kagemura continued:
"That is not the behavior of a teenager fighting blindly. It is the behavior of soone who knows how dangerous he is and still knows how to protect the civilians around him while fighting."
Morita pressed his lips together.
"You are praising a boy who casually launched a nuclear explosion at soone?"
"I am praising the control he demonstrated", Kagemura replied. "That attack is concerning, yes. But context matters."
He looked at everyone at the table.
"For all these years, that boy was treated like a walking apocalyptic bomb. Yesterday, even exhausted, wounded, and emotionally pressured, he fought terrorist villains, avoided direct harm to civilians, and saved an entire island from the worst."
A woman from the committee adjusted her glasses.
"The reports from I-Island also highlight that he helped contain the Sentinels and prevented Wolfram from reaching more populated areas."
"Exactly", Kagemura said. "The boy is showing exponential improvent in controlling his own power."
Morita looked at him seriously.
"And if that improvent is not enough?"
Kagemura did not look away.
"Then we continue monitoring him. But we no longer treat him as a problem only because risk still exists."
He touched the tablet in front of him and opened another report.
"Nezu is doing a good job. U.A. is giving him structure, social interaction, training, and emotional support. Things the complex could never offer."
The sentence struck so of those present uncomfortably, especially Arima.
Kagemura noticed, but did not back down.
"A hero who knows how strong and dangerous he is, and still takes care when using his full strength in public, is rare. Seeing young Tanaka demonstrate that now is sothing we should take as sothing very good."
Morita released a long sigh.
"So your recomndation is to maintain the current agreent?"
"Yes. Discreet monitoring. No direct intervention. But the security line will remain reinforced due to the League of Villains."
"And regarding the incident on the island and the press?"
"Partial cover-up."
One of the aides opened the official docunt.
"I-Island has agreed not to disclose specific details about Tanaka's participation, the energy spikes, or the exact nature of the final blow. The public version will be limited to: terrorist attack, joint action by heroes, and the containnt of the villain Wolfram carried out by the Symbol of Peace, All Might."
Morita looked at the screen with Ryo frozen in the air, surrounded by green light.
"And the witnesses?"
"The island residents are cooperating", the aide replied. "Many are more interested in thanking the students than exposing details. I-Island's administration also requested secrecy to avoid panic and protect the reputation of the academy and the scientists."
"Convenient", Morita murmured.
Kagemura closed the report.
"Sotis, gratitude is more efficient than fear."
No one answered imdiately.
At last, Morita leaned back in his chair.
"Very well. We will keep the full report restricted to the upper levels. The public version will be softened. But I want monthly updates on Tanaka."
"You will have them."
The eting ended a few minutes later.
The committee mbers left one by one, carrying folders, tablets, and tired expressions. Kagemura remained alone in the room for a few more monts, watching the now-dark screen.
His phone vibrated.
He took the device from his pocket and saw a ssage.
Hina:
Dad, did you eat anything today, or just old-man coffee again?
Kagemura looked at the screen for a few seconds.
Kagemura:
I ate.
Three dots appeared imdiately.
Hina:
Liar.
Kagemura almost smiled.
Kagemura:
I will eat later.
Hina:
Better.
There was a pause.
Then another ssage ca.
Hina:
How was the eting?
Kagemura kept staring at the question.
Hina:
Did they let him pass?
Kagemura took a deep breath.
Kagemura:
Yes. You do not need to worry.
Her answer ca quickly.
Hina:
Right! Thank you, Dad!
Another ssage appeared soon after.
Hina:
He saved my life. And the lives of many of my classmates here.
Kagemura closed his eyes for an instant.
His daughter studied at I-Island Academy.
She had been there during the incident.
She had been among the people who only survived because heroes, students, and a boy the governnt still treated as a risk had fought until the end.
Kagemura typed slowly.
Kagemura:
I know. That is why I want to thank him too.
The screen went silent.
Then Hina replied:
Hina:
Then keep helping him.
Kagemura stared at the ssage for a few seconds.
Then he put the phone back in his pocket.
The room was empty.
The main screen, still dark, reflected his silhouette before the table.
Kagemura turned to leave.
"That is what I will do from now on", he murmured.
----------------------------------------
Later, after returning to Japan, Ryo was sitting in the back seat of a black governnt car.
Outside the window, the city passed by in silence. Buildings, signs, poles, and night lights slid across the dark glass, but Ryo barely paid attention to any of them.
His gaze was fixed on the reflection of his own hand.
The hand that had healed lissa's finger.
The hand that had healed Midoriya's injuries.
The hand that healed even All Might as an apology for beating him up in the Final Exams.
The hand that, not long ago, he never would have associated with anything other than destruction.
In the front seat, Rin Kobayashi drove with both hands on the steering wheel. The blonde woman kept her usual flawless posture, her black blazer perfectly fitted, even after hours of work. But, unlike the rigid image that appearance might have given off, there was sothing naturally light about her.
Or at least, there used to be.
Since Sakamoto's death, that lightness seed to co with effort.
Every now and then, Rin looked through the rearview mirror, trying to asure Ryo's state without invading his silence too much. She knew this was a route Sakamoto used to take before. She knew that, in so way, she was sitting in a place that still did not feel completely hers.
"Was your trip eventful?", Rin comnted after a few minutes, with a small smile trying to break the weight inside the car.
Ryo blinked, coming back to reality a little.
"It was."
"I heard you saved a lot of people."
Ryo turned his face toward the window.
"Not alone."
"Even so."
Silence returned for a few seconds.
Rin lightly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, as if thinking of a better way to continue. Normally, she would have made so silly comnt, maybe talked about food or made a bad joke to test his reaction.
But now, she seed to choose every word carefully.
"I also heard you received gifts from the island."
Ryo looked at her through the reflection in the glass.
"Who told you that?"
"Ah... the reports?"
"Did the reports ntion how I was stuffed full of apples?"
Rin took half a second to answer.
"That part, unfortunately, was not in the docunts."
Ryo let out a low laugh.
The atmosphere beca a little less heavy.
Rin smiled faintly through the rearview mirror, satisfied that she had managed to get so kind of reaction from him.
"I'll request an updated version of the report. That seems like important information."
"Don't even try."
"I disagree. You never know if you might have developed so kind of trauma with apples."
Ryo froze and looked at her for a few seconds.
"You... are not far from wrong..."
The silence returned, but now it did not feel so cold.
Rin kept driving.
After a while, her expression softened a little.
"Sakamoto-sensei used to accompany you on these visits, didn't he?"
Ryo lowered his gaze.
"Yes."
Rin kept her eyes on the road, but her voice lost so of its lightness.
"He was my sensei when I entered this work. He taught a lot."
Ryo stayed quiet.
"I'm not going to pretend I can take his place", she said. "I can't. And I don't even think it would be right to try."
The city lights passed over her face for an instant.
"But while I'm responsible for you, I'll try to do it right. The way he would have wanted."
Ryo stared at the front seat for a few seconds.
Then he answered quietly:
"You're doing fine."
Rin did not answer right away.
Her smile appeared small, almost hidden, but real.
"Thank you, Tanaka-kun."
----------------------------------------
The N.C.R.C.D.Q. complex appeared after a 30-minute drive, surrounded by high walls, caras, and layers of security that made the place look less like a hospital and more like a prison trying to pretend it was a clinic.
Ryo passed through the main entrance without saying much.
He already knew that path far too well.
The white corridors had the sa cold sll as always, a mixture of disinfectant, tal, and filtered air. In so wings, reinforced doors isolated patients with unstable Quirks. In others, containnt signs warned of thermal, chemical, biological, or energy-related risks.
Ryo passed by a thick window where a child slept inside a pressure chamber.
Farther ahead, a woman with crystallized skin was being monitored by three technicians.
In another wing, red lights flashed above a sealed room, where sensors asured changes in local gravity.
He did not stop at any of them.
He just kept walking.
Until he reached the dical wing.
Going to room 407.
Yuuko's room was dark and silent, lit only by the bluish glow of the machines and the moonlight entering through the narrow window.
She was in bed.
Motionless.
Connected to tubes, sensors, and monitors.
Ryo stopped at the entrance for a few seconds.
The feeling ca, as it always did.
Relief at seeing her there.
Sadness at seeing her like this.
He slowly entered and closed the door behind him.
Ryo approached the bed and pulled the chair closer. He sat beside her, staring at his mother's calm face.
"Hi, Mom."
His voice ca out smaller than he expected.
"I'm here."
The monitor continued beeping at a steady rhythm.
Ryo looked at her for a few seconds before continuing.
"I ca back from I-Island. That island of scientists I told you about before I left."
He rested his arms on his knees.
"It was... really big. Too colorful. But pretty futuristic."
He sighed.
"I... had fun."
He seed surprised by his own sentence.
"More than I thought I would."
Ryo looked down at his own hands.
"I also t my friends there. Without planning it. Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, Mina, Kirishima... even Dash showed up with Pony."
He let out a short laugh.
"The worst part is that I forgot to invite Dash, but he surprised by showing up with his 'study partner.'"
The light from the machines blinked softly.
Ryo continued:
"There was a villain attack in the middle of all that too..."
He looked at Yuuko, as if waiting for so reaction.
"But everything turned out fine in the end."
His voice lowered.
"I took care of everyone."
He stayed silent for a few more seconds.
Then his face began to heat up slightly.
"And I t a girl..."
Ryo froze a little after saying that.
He cleared his throat.
"Her na is lissa. She's... smart. Really smart. And kind. And kind of bossy too."
The mory of her at the festival ca back too strongly.
The dress.
The smile.
The kiss on the cheek.
Ryo quickly shook his head.
"A-Anyway! She's a... great friend! Yeah! Hehe... Ehw..."
He looked to the side, trying to regain his composure.
"Overall... it was good."
Ryo looked at his mother in silence.
At the tubes.
At the pale skin.
At her hands, still on top of the sheet.
His chest began to tighten.
Slowly, he raised his own hand.
But he did not touch her yet.
His fingers were trembling.
"I learned sothing new because of her."
His voice almost disappeared.
"Maybe... maybe I can do sothing."
He looked at the fruit basket in the corner of the room.
The apples were there, red and intact.
Ryo rembered the first apple turning to ash.
The other catching fire.
The other drying out.
The other deforming in a wrong way.
His hand pulled back a few centiters.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
lissa's image appeared.
Her cut finger.
Her smile saying she trusted him.
Then Midoriya.
His broken body recovering under the green light.
Ryo took a deep breath.
"I managed it with lissa."
He inhaled.
"With Midoriya."
He exhaled.
"And I managed it with All Might before coming back here..."
He opened his eyes.
"I can do this."
He brought his hands closer to his mother.
The green aura slowly erged.
Weak at first.
Then steadier.
The light spread through the dark room, covering the sheets, the tubes, the machines, and Yuuko's sleeping face. The moonlight entering through the window mixed with the greenish glow, making the room seem suspended between night and dream.
Ryo kept his trembling hands over her.
"Please..."
The energy wrapped around Yuuko's body.
The monitor beeped a little faster.
Ryo clenched his teeth.
"Work."
The light increased.
"Work..."
Nothing happened.
Yuuko did not move.
Ryo breathed unsteadily, trying not to panic.
"No, no... I can do this. I know I can."
He closed his eyes and focused harder.
The aura entered her body.
And then he felt it.
Sothing strange.
It was not like it had been with lissa.
It was not like it had been with Midoriya.
It was not muscle, bone, nerves, or cells trying to rebuild themselves.
It was...
Empty?
Ryo frowned, not understanding.
A quiet, deep emptiness, impossible to na. As if his energy were touching a perfect structure on the outside, but finding a hollow space sowhere there should have been sothing more.
"What...?"
He almost stopped.
But the fear of stopping was stronger.
"No. Not now."
The light intensified.
His body began to tremble more. His face tightened. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his forehead.
"Work..."
His voice failed.
"Please, Mom... wake up..."
The green glow leaked out from under the door.
Outside, a nurse passing through the corridor stopped.
She looked at the line of light on the floor.
"What the...?"
She quickly approached the door.
Inside, Ryo did not notice.
The only thing that existed for him in that mont was his mother.
And the desperate hope that this would work.
"Please..."
The monitor changed rhythm.
Ryo opened his eyes.
Yuuko's fingers moved.
Ryo stopped breathing.
"Mom...?"
Her eyes shifted beneath her eyelids.
Then they slowly opened.
Like soone waking from a sleep that had lasted far too long.
Yuuko blinked slowly a few tis.
Her gaze, still confused, wandered over the ceiling, the machines, the green light slowly fading away.
Then it found Ryo.
She spent a few seconds just looking at him.
Her face softened.
"Ryo...?"
The boy went completely still.
The aura vanished from his hands.
His mouth opened, but no words ca out.
Yuuko looked at his face.
At his green eyes.
At his trembling shoulders.
At the boy who no longer seed as small as she rembered.
Her hand slowly rose, weak, but real.
"You..." Her voice ca out hoarse, low. "Have you been eating properly?"
Hearing that completely broke Ryo.
His eyes filled with tears in the sa instant.
He tried to speak.
Tried to explain everything.
The trip.
The complex.
U.A.
The pain.
The anger.
The fear.
The weight he had been carrying.
Everything.
But no sentence ford.
Only one word.
"Mom..."
Yuuko touched his face with her fingertips.
"You... must have gone through so much while Mommy was away, didn't you?"
Ryo let out a broken sound, sowhere between a sob and a failed attempt to breathe.
"Mom..."
"Don't worry."
Her hand carefully rested against his cheek.
"Mommy is here."
Ryo fell to his knees beside the bed.
His hands grabbed the sheet, and he lowered his head against the side of the mattress while crying like he had not cried in years.
"Mom... Mom... Mom..."
He repeated the word as if he were afraid of forgetting it.
As if he needed to confirm it was real.
Yuuko ran her fingers through his hair, weakly, but lovingly.
The door opened and the nurse rushed in, ready to call security, doctors, anyone.
But she stopped in place.
Yuuko Tanaka was awake.
And Ryo was on his knees beside the bed, crying against the sheet while holding his mother's hand.
The nurse brought a hand to her mouth.
Yuuko looked at her, confused, then turned her gaze back to her son.
Carefully, she continued stroking his hair.
"It's okay, Mommy is back."
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