----in another part of the city...
Yuki couldn't remember the last time she had a decent sleep.
The waiting room at UA's administrative building had become her prison.
Uncomfortable chairs that left her back aching. Stale coffee from a machine that probably haven't seen rest in months. The same four cream-colored walls she'd memorized down to every nook and cranny of it.
It was a Saturday evening, Principal Nezu had called. His voice had been calm, professional even, but she'd heard the underlying tension.
"Mrs. Kazama, I'm afraid there's been an incident. Your son has been taken."
She'd been in her car within minutes. The forty-minute drive to UA had felt like hours. And then... nothing. She have been waiting since then for any update.
Updates that weren't really updates. "We're doing everything we can."
"Multiple hero agencies are involved."
"We'll contact you the moment we know anything."
Forty-eight hours of nothing.
Her healing quirk was useless here. She could mend cuts, ease bruises, accelerate recovery from minor injuries. But she couldn't reach through empty space to find her son. She can't heal what she couldn't touch.
The coffee in her paper cup had gone cold hours ago. She stared at it anyway, watching the surface ripple slightly when her hands shook.
Kenji had left to protect Ryuu. Disappeared years ago with cryptic warnings about "them" coming for their son.
She'd spent nearly a decade wondering if she'd made the right choice, letting him go. If Ryuu would have been safer with his father around, or if Kenji's presence would have drawn exactly the kind of danger he'd feared.
Now someone had taken her boy anyway.
The door opened.
Yuki's head snapped up. A pro hero stood in the doorway. White hair pulled back. She had a pair of Rabbit ears above her head. Red eyes that carried an fierce face, that made Yuki's breath catch.
"Yuki Kazama?" The hero's voice was firm but not unkind.
"Yes." Yuki stood so fast her chair scraped against the floor. "Did you—is he—"
"I'm Mirko. The Rabbit Hero." She stepped fully into the room. "And...We found him."
The relief that Yuki felt at that moment felt so overwhelming that her knees went weak. She grabbed the back of the chair to steady herself.
"Is he hurt? Where is he? Can I see him?"
"He's alive. Being transported here now via helicopter." Mirko's expression was carefully controlled. "Physically, his injuries are minor. Just dehydration, exhaustion, some bruising. Nothing Recovery Girl can't handle."
The way she said it made Yuki's stomach tighten. "But?"
Mirko's jaw clenched slightly. "The facility where he was held collapsed during his escape. There were... casualties. I don't have all the details yet, but from what he said..." She paused. "He witnessed something traumatic. He's in shock."
Yuki's hand went to her mouth. "What happened? Who took him? Why would—"
"It was a villain organization. That's all I can tell you right now." Mirko's tone softened. "He's coming home, Mrs. Kazama. That's what matters. The rest we'll figure out."
"I want to see him the moment he arrives."
"Already arranged. Medical wing landing pad. I'll take you there now."
Yuki grabbed her purse with shaking hands. As they left the waiting room and walked through UA's corridors, she tried to prepare herself. Tried to imagine what state Ryuu would be in.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she'd see.
***
ALL MIGHT POV - UA COMMAND CENTER
Toshinori Yagi stood in his skeletal form, studying the tactical display on the wall. Red markers indicated the collapsed facility's location. Blue markers showed hero positions and search team deployments. Yellow marked civilian evacuation zones.
The room buzzed with chaos. Pro heroes coordinated with police. Search and rescue teams reported findings every few minutes. Medical staff prepared for potential survivors.
"Any updates on survivors?" Toshinori asked, his voice a rasp in this diminished form.
Aizawa stood beside him, exhaustion evident in the dark circles under his eyes. "One confirmed alive. Kazama Ryuu. Mirko extracted him from the industrial district approximately one kilometer from the collapse site."
"Just one?" Toshinori's hands clenched. "The facility had to have other occupants."
"Search teams are still combing through the rubble." Principal Nezu appeared on Toshinori's other side, his small paws clasped behind his back. "The structural collapse was... extensive. Multiple floors pancaked. We're estimating dozens of casualties, though identifying them will take time."
Toshinori's chest tightened. Another student endangered. Another family tampered by the villains.
Nana's voice echoed in his memory. "The hardest part of being the Symbol of Peace isn't the battles, Toshinori. It's the people you can't save."
"Young Kazama," he said quietly. "How is he?"
"Mirko reports he's physically stable," Nezu replied. "Psychologically... less certain. He was coherent enough to provide basic information about his captivity, but he's been largely unresponsive since extraction."
"What did he say?"
Aizawa pulled up a report on his tablet. "That a man claiming to be his father facilitated his escape. That the facility was some kind of villain research base. That there was a fight, an explosion, and the building came down." He looked up. "He keeps asking if anyone else made it out."
"His father?" Toshinori frowned. "Kenji Yamamoto..."
"Search teams found identification matching Commander Kenji Yamamoto in the rubble," Nezu said carefully. "Along with human remains in the primary collapse zone. We're awaiting DNA confirmation, but..."
But they all knew what that meant.
Toshinori closed his eyes briefly. The boy had just gotten his father back only to lose him immediately.
"The villain who orchestrated the kidnapping?" he asked.
"There was no trace." Aizawa's tone was grim. "We found evidence of multiple quirk users at the site. Blood samples, tissue, traces of various abilities. But no intact bodies except Yamamoto. The heat from the explosion and subsequent fires was extreme. If anyone else was caught in the center of the collapse..."
"They're gone," Toshinori finished. "Burned beyond recognition."
"Most likely."
A notification chimed. Nezu checked his tablet. "Young Kazama's helicopter is approaching. ETA three minutes."
Toshinori straightened despite his body's protests. "I should be there when he arrives."