Part I — The Fractured Morning
Tick… tick… tick…
The sound echoed inside the abandoned station like a heartbeat.
Koku watched the old digital watch blink faintly — the same one Deku had handed him before vanishing into the time fracture. The blue-green light on its screen pulsed in rhythm with his own heartbeat, as if the two were linked across eras.
Rex's voice cut through the silence.
"Another news broadcast. They're calling us the Chrono Fugitives now. Some kind of joke, huh?"
Aina turned from the cracked radio receiver, her expression grim. "The Hero Commission's spinning the story. They say we caused the time distortions that hit Shinjuku this morning."
Koku's gaze hardened. "But those rifts… they appeared before we even left Musutafu."
A low hum rattled the ground beneath them. Dust fell from the ceiling. The metal tracks glowed faintly blue.
Aina's eyes widened. "Wait— that energy signature—"
Koku was already moving. The world blurred as he sprinted toward the tunnel mouth, Chrono Breaker flaring. When he emerged onto the surface, the sky was tearing apart.
Chrono Rift: Shinjuku District
Reality shimmered like broken glass. A massive rift split the air above the city, sucking debris upward into a swirling void. Civilians screamed as buildings cracked and twisted under invisible pressure.
Koku's eyes widened — the air around the rift rippled with temporal gravity.
He could feel it — the same distortion that had dragged him from his timeline.
"Rex! Aina! Evacuate the civilians!"
He leapt onto a collapsed rooftop, lightning crackling around his legs.
Rex raised a wall of flame to block falling rubble, shouting orders to trapped workers. "Move! Follow the firelight — it's safe there!"
Aina's glowing threads shot out, wrapping around falling beams and pulling them aside. Sweat streaked her face as she anchored herself to a lamppost.
"Two kids under the car! I've got them!"
Koku saw them — terrified, clutching each other. He stopped time. The world fell silent.
Chrono Breaker: Five Seconds.
He dashed across frozen raindrops, reached the children, and pulled them clear. When time resumed, the car crashed harmlessly into the pavement.
The kids looked up at him — wide-eyed. "A-are you… a hero?"
Koku froze. The word hit him harder than any attack.
He smiled faintly. "Not yet. But I'm trying."
The Rift Pulse
A deep hum filled the air. The rift expanded suddenly, and from within it, dark silhouettes emerged — humanoid shapes wrapped in glowing circuits.
Rex swore. "Chrono Order drones!"
The machines' voices were monotone:
"Target: Koku. Priority capture."
Blue energy lanced toward him. Koku dodged mid-air, lightning flaring from One For All's power core. He countered with a punch — time slowed, energy flared, and the drone shattered into fragments.
"More incoming!" Aina cried, her threads slicing through two drones — only for a third to snare her from behind.
Koku's instincts screamed. He unleashed both quirks at once — One For All, 10% Output + Chrono Breaker Sync.
The world exploded in light. He moved between seconds, appearing beside Aina before the drone could strike. His fist connected — the resulting shockwave disintegrated the machine completely.
The recoil threw him backward. Blood dripped from his nose.
Aina caught him, shouting over the noise, "You idiot! You're bleeding again!"
He grinned weakly. "Means I'm alive."
Arrival of the Commander
A sudden pressure froze the air. The rift twisted violently, then stabilized. From within stepped a tall figure clad in black armor, eyes glowing crimson behind a cracked mask.
"Finally found you," the figure said. His voice was calm — almost human. "Chrono Order — Commander Zerath."
Rex's flames flared instinctively. "Another tin can to melt."
But Koku felt it — the time energy around Zerath wasn't mechanical. It was alive, pulsating like a corrupted heartbeat.
Zerath extended his hand. "Koku. You are the singularity. The merging point of One For All and Chrono Flow. Return with me — or this city will vanish."
Koku's answer was a whisper.
"Then I'll save it first."
He charged — lightning and temporal sparks flooding the battlefield.