The sky was a clear, blazing blue, soft white clouds drifting lazily overhead. Below them, the small neighborhood park buzzed with life—kids shouting, shoes thudding against the rubber mat, the metallic clink of swings rocking back and forth.
Near the play structure, a group of five- and six-year-olds had claimed the sandbox as their "disaster zone."
Today, they weren't just kids.
They were heroes.
A pile of dry leaves had been kicked together into a lopsided mound, standing in for collapsed rubble from a burning building. Four boys lay underneath it, faces dusted with dirt and leaves.
"Help! The building's gonna fall!" Izuku Midoriya cried, voice full of drama. His green hair stuck up in every direction, round green eyes wide as he clutched the leaves like they were real debris.
Beside him, Ryuuki Haruhama squirmed, curls of white hair peeking through gaps in the "rubble." His light brown skin was smudged, and his piercing red eyes sparkled with excitement rather than fear.
Two other boys lay with them: one with long, stretchy fingers that poked comically out from the leaves, wiggling; the other already sporting a pair of large bat-like wings, folded awkwardly against his back.
Standing a short distance away, on top of a low step like it was a heroic rooftop, Katsuki Bakugo puffed out his chest.
"Hahaha! Fear not, citizens, for I am here!" he shouted, doing his best gravelly All Might impression.
He launched himself off the step and sprinted toward the pile, arms spread wide like he was charging into flames only he could see.
"Izuku!" he barked. "Hang on, All Might's coming!"
"The building's really hot!" Izuku yelled, fully committed. "We need your help getting the rubble off! The other kids can't move!"
Bakugo skidded to a stop beside them and started tearing leaves away with dramatic sweeps of his hands.
"I'll get you all out!" he roared. "Because I'm the number one hero, the strongest hero—All Might!"
He grabbed the boy with the bat wings first, tugging him free from the pile.
"Citizen with the wings—you're safe now!" Bakugo declared.
The winged boy flapped them experimentally and scrambled out of the way, grinning.
Next, Bakugo grabbed the boy with the finger-extension quirk, hauling him up by the wrists.
"Stretchy-guy! You're safe too!"
Then he turned to Izuku.
Izuku stared up at him with shining eyes, cheeks a little flushed.
"Don't worry, young man," Bakugo said, grinning wide. "Because I am here."
Izuku couldn't help smiling back. He reached up, small fingers curling around Bakugo's outstretched hand.
With one big pull, Bakugo yanked him free of the leaf pile.
Ryuuki's muffled voice came from under the remaining "rubble."
"Hey, All Might! Don't forget about me!"
Bakugo let out a booming laugh, already drunk on the attention.
"Hahaha! All Might would never leave an innocent civilian in danger!" he shouted, dropping back into character.
He hooked his hands under Ryuuki's arms and tugged. The smaller boy popped free from the leaves, curls shaking, a few stray bits still stuck in his hair.
All four boys staggered together into the open air.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then they erupted.
"We're saved!" Izuku yelled.
"All Might did it!" the winged boy added.
"Number one hero!" the stretchy-finger kid shouted.
They crowded around Bakugo, cheering and chanting his borrowed name.
"All Might! All Might! All Might!"
A little farther back, a group of other kids playing "civilians" saw the scene and joined in, raising their hands and voices like a tiny adoring crowd at a real rescue.
Bakugo stood in the middle of it all, chin tilted up, soaking in the praise as if the whole world was already his.
Izuku and Ryuuki stood beside him, faces bright with admiration—two kids who didn't know yet how far their paths, and their ideas of what a hero really was, would one day pull away from this simple game in the park.
The air in the forest was cooler than the park, full of damp earth and the sweet smell of leaves. Sunlight slipped through the canopy in broken beams as five little boys tramped along a narrow dirt path, branches crunching under their sneakers.
"C'mon, guys, let's go deeper!" Bakugo called from the front, hopping over a root like it was nothing. "Me and Ryuuki found a new path yesterday. There's totally treasure or something."
Ryuuki walked just behind him, hands in his pockets, white curls bouncing with every step. Izuku and the others followed, chattering.
Bakugo glanced back at the group, a grin stretching across his face.
"Hey, Ryuuki, Izuku—when are your quirks gonna awaken already?" he said. "You better get something cool. Cooler than Tsubasa and Daichi, anyway."
"Hey!" Daichi puffed his cheeks. "What do you mean 'cooler' than us?"
He stuck out one hand and let his fingers shoot forward, extending until they hooked a low-hanging branch. With a smug look, he swung it around like a floppy wooden sword.
"Who else do you know that can do party tricks like this?" Daichi said, swiping at imaginary enemies.
Tsubasa laughed and flared his bat-like wings once, sending a few loose leaves swirling. "Yeah, yeah, we're already awesome."
Ryuuki watched them, eyes sharp and bright red in the filtered light.
"I don't know what my quirk will be," he said, "but I hope it's strong enough to let me be the number one hero."
Bakugo snorted, sparks popping lightly across his palms as he turned away.
"If you wanna be number one, you need a powerful, flashy quirk," he declared. Tiny explosions crackled, filling the air with the smell of burnt air and sweat. "I already got mine—and it showed up before yours. You two are gonna have to catch up."
Ryuuki met his look with a small, challenging smirk.
"When my quirk awakens," he said quietly, "I'll be the strongest out of all of us."
"Oh yeah?" Bakugo puffed his chest. "We'll see."
He flicked his gaze to the green-haired boy walking a little behind them.
"What about you, Izuku? What kinda quirk do you think you'll get?"
Izuku blinked, startled at suddenly being the center of attention. His hands fidgeted with the hem of his shirt.
"U-uh… I don't know," he stammered. "M-maybe something like a mix of my dad's and mom's. I was thinking… maybe a fire-breathing quirk?"
Tsubasa laughed and slung an arm over Izuku's shoulders.
"Haha! Izuku's gonna be our little dragon!" he crowed.
Daichi joined in, waving his stretched finger around. "Yeah, the Dragon Hero Deku! Pew, pew, fire breath!"
The boys burst into giggles, Izuku's face flushing red but smiling anyway.
They came to a stop at a fallen tree lying across a shallow ravine—a log bridge. Below, a narrow river chattered over rocks, the water darker where it pooled.
Bakugo hopped up onto the log without hesitation.
"Treasure lies on the other side!" he shouted dramatically. "All Might fearlessly charges ahead!"
He strutted across, arms spread wide like he was balancing on a skyscraper beam instead of a mossy trunk.
"Be careful, Kacchan," Izuku called nervously. "The log is kinda—"
Bakugo turned to laugh over his shoulder, not watching his feet.
"Relax! Number one heroes don't—"
His sneaker slipped on a patch of slick moss.
Time broke.
Bakugo's eyes went wide as his foot slid sideways. His arms windmilled, sparks flickering uselessly from his palms.
"Ah—!"
He toppled off the log, body flipping awkwardly in the air as he dropped toward the churning water and jagged rocks below.
"Kacchan!" Izuku screamed.
"Bakugo!" Ryuuki shouted at the same time.
Both boys lunged to grab him, small hands stretching out from the log—but their arms were far too short. Bakugo's fingers brushed past theirs, just out of reach.
For a heartbeat, there was only the sound of his panicked yell and the rush of the river.
Then something inside Ryuuki snapped open.
A stabbing pulse hit the side of his head and horn, like a spike of ice.
—danger—
His chest clenched. The world slowed. He didn't think.
He moved.
Ryuuki shoved off the log, one foot slamming into the bark as he threw his body toward the edge. His hand shot out—
—and the air thickened around them.
Wind that wasn't wind curled under Bakugo like invisible arms. The river below twisted, water rearing up in a sudden swell. Dry leaves and dust lifted around Ryuuki's feet as if gravity forgot what to do.
Harbor Current exploded to life.
Bakugo's fall stuttered, his drop slowing just enough that he didn't slam straight into the rocks. His body tilted, turning toward the embankment instead of the water.
At the same time, white-silver scales flickered across Ryuuki's forearms, racing from his wrists up to his elbows. His fingers stretched further than they should have, muscles and bones reinforcing in an instant.
His small pearl horn blazed with golden light.
"Got you!" Ryuuki shouted.
His clawed hand closed around Bakugo's wrist with a grip strong enough to bruise. The impact nearly yanked him off the log, feet skidding, but the strange cushion in the air held them just long enough.
The log groaned, bark cracking.
The currents bucked, the river below surging angrily. Energy lines glowed faint gold under the skin of Ryuuki's neck and chest, sharp pain burning behind his eyes.
Then Mythic Core clamped down.
The cushion of air collapsed.
Bakugo swung like a pendulum, ripping free of Ryuuki's hand. Momentum hurled him sideways instead of straight down; he crashed into the muddy bank and tumbled, rolling down the short slope until he hit a flat patch beside the water with a painful thud.
The log bridge shuddered but held.
Leaves and dust settled slowly back to earth.
Ryuuki dropped to his knees on the trunk, breathing hard, heart pounding so loud he could hear nothing else. His scaled hands shook, claws scraping the bark. The golden light in his horn flickered and dimmed, scales melting back into skin in ripples.
"…what… was that…?" he whispered, staring at his trembling fingers.
Tsubasa and Daichi stood frozen on the path, eyes huge.
"Did… did you see that?" Daichi whispered. "His arms—he had… scales…"
Tsubasa's wings twitched. "He—he made the air move… and the water…"
Down below, Bakugo groaned and pushed himself up on his elbows, mud smeared across his cheeks and clothes. His hands were scraped, one knee bleeding, but he was alive.
He looked up.
For a second, all he saw was Ryuuki—kneeling on the log, chest heaving, horn still faintly glowing, red eyes ringed with bright orange, a few stubborn white-silver scales still clinging to his forearms.
Something like awe flashed across Bakugo's face, tangled with fear.
"R… Ryuuki…?" he breathed.
Ryuuki's mouth opened, but no words came out. He didn't even know what to call what just happened. Part of him was amazed he'd moved that fast. Another part was terrified of his own hands.
The other boys remained rooted to the spot, held by a strange, stunned silence.
Everything inside Izuku screamed.
Kacchan fell. Kacchan's hurt. Move.
His legs didn't ask for permission.
Izuku scrambled off the log bridge, half-sliding down the muddy slope, hands digging into the earth. He stumbled once, almost fell, caught himself, and kept going.
"I–I'm coming, Kacchan!" he yelled, voice cracking.
He splashed onto the wet bank beside Bakugo, panting, knees soaking up cold water and mud.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt? Did you hit your head?" Izuku babbled, hands hovering over Bakugo's shoulders, not sure where he was allowed to touch.
Bakugo stared at him, then jerked his gaze back up toward the log where Ryuuki knelt.
For the first time that day, his usual loud confidence was gone.
Izuku followed his eyes, looking up at Ryuuki too—really looking.
At the fading glow of the horn.
At the last hints of white-silver scales retreating under his skin.
At the shaken, wide-eyed expression on his friend's face, like he was just as scared as everyone else.
Izuku's breath caught.
"…Ryuuki… you… you saved him," he whispered.
Ryuuki swallowed, throat dry.
"I… I just moved," he said softly, voice unsteady. "I didn't… think. I just… didn't want him to fall."
The river murmured beside them, as if nothing had happened.
Up on the path, the forest held its breath.