"Did you hear? Apparently there was an attack on the USJ while a class was being held. No one seems to have been seriously hurt― except one student, I think ―but…"

"Those poor first years…"

These were the words that Seiko had heard on accident. While she was on her way back from the bathroom she'd passed the staff lounge and overheard a couple teachers talking― gossiping as her sister would say. At first it hadn't meant anything to her, but then she began to think it through. USJ― the Unforeseen Simulations Joint, not Universal Studios Japan, she thought ―was a place where heroes in training learned how to rescue people from nature's tantrums (as Chiyuki had once explained). But according to the teachers this place had been attacked by bad guys and someone had gotten hurt. And suddenly it had meant a lot to her.

These were also the words that wouldn't stop ringing in her ears, even long after she had heard them. It bothered Seiko much the same as hearing thunder rumbling in the dead of night. Whenever thunder broke the world with its cacaphonic booming the little girl believed something terrible would come with it. Those words were thunder, and they leaked her fears into her imagination like the rain that would follow after.

She wanted to believe with all her heart that her big bro was alright― that it wasn't his class that had been at the USJ today, that he wasn't the one who had been hurt. But bad scene after bad scene wriggled in her mind like a can of worms. What if big bro had broken all the bones in his body or suffered through sharp objects stabbing through his stomach and chest? What if the building had collapsed? What if big bro had gotten trapped under the rocks or had hit his head?

What if Melon Lord had been the one to attack, knowing it was better to do so while the general was separated from the leader? What if he had tried to take away big bro too?

Her little heart thumped painfully against her ribs and tiny hands clasped the spot with great force in an effort to keep the organ from beating its way out of her chest. Her eyes burned and blurred, turning the landscape lit by the golden-orange light of the descending sun into a blazing fire. The child buried her face against her knees in an attempt to block it out; breath hitching, body shaking, nose running, and thunder echoing in her thoughts.

"No more," Seiko whispered. "Don't take anyone else no more."

A shadow fell over her and a soft, worried voice interrupted her thunderous thoughts. "What's wrong? Are you lost?"

Seiko jumped, looking up and through watery eyes for the voice that had spoken to her. The first thing that she noticed was the poofy mop of green hair― which almost appeared black in contrast with the fiery glow of the sunset ―followed by noticing the uniform the boy wore. It was exactly the same as big bro's, but not nearly as untidily put together as his. Seiko sniffed once, rubbed her eyes and scrambled to her feet.

She pointed an unsteady finger and asked him with a stuffy voice, "Y-you go to this school right?"

The boy looked back in the direction he had just come from and then back at her with a nod and a small but confused smile. The little girl edged closer to him. A glimmer of hope sparked in her chest, calming the anxious beat of her heart and shushing the thunder enough so she could hear properly.

"I'm waitin' for big bro to make sure he's okay! Do you know if he was the one who got hurt?"

"Who is your big brother?" he asked kindly, guessing right away that she was waiting for someone from his class. It seemed she didn't know that everyone had been sent home early because of today's attack. Crouching, the boy put himself at eye level with the child. Light green eyes studied her curiously while a nagging suspicion built up in the back of his mind. Could this kid be…?

The little girl's face brightened automatically, a sort of innocent pride dominating her face as she opened her mouth, though her anxiousness was still apparent in the way she fidgeted. She clearly admired this person.

"His name's Bakugo! Do ya know 'im?" She crossed her arms behind her back and began bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. Talking to this boy made her feel a little bit better, and her head wasn't so filled with dark clouds and thunder anymore, though they had only just met.

Midoriya blinked slowly, his suspicion confirmed. So this was the little kid that Mina had said Kacchan was being nice to. Of course, he also knew about her through another kind of fame among the rest of the student population, outside of 1-A. According to the rumors there was a little girl that waited outside the school gates for her big brother, but in the time that she waited for him she would wave to the students passing by and encourage them to keep up the good work. She was a refreshing bit of motivation, he had heard.

Even so, this was the first time Midoriya was meeting her himself. The kid was usually gone before he left school grounds. Yet here she was, still waiting long after school normally got out. If he hadn't already found her looking ready to cry then that would have been enough to tell him how worried she was. Knowing that he needed to assure the little girl that her idol was okay Midoriya smiled and began talking about the boy who had shown a heroic side to himself today. It was something he knew always made him feel better when he worried about All Might.

"Kacchan is really cool when he fights, you know? And brave too. He stood up to a lot of villains today." He recalled the way Bakugo came barreling in, knocking the warp gate user to the ground and kept him pinned in place. Kacchan had always been fierce, but it really was something different to see that energy at work in the line of action.

Seiko was hooked and hanging onto each word the green haired boy said to her. She imagined big bro, surrounded a hundred to one, taking each villain down with a wild grin on his face and his crimson eyes blazing. Deep within, past her worry and fears, the little girl knew her big bro was capable of winning against the odds. She knew he was strong, and smart, and a true hero. Seiko almost felt silly now for getting so upset and fearing the worst. Of course big bro was okay! He was gonna be the number one hero, and nothing would get in his way.

The little kid beamed brightly at the boy as he ruffled her hair with a bandaged hand, saying, "Kacchan is alright, so you don't have to worry anymore, okay?"

Seiko vigorously nodded her head, bursting out, "Thanks― uh… Um…" Her enthusiasm vanished just as quickly as it came when she realized she had no idea who she was talking to. Her round face screwed up as she gave the boy a confused look and asked who he was.

"I'm Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku." He chuckled lightly, amused with how energetic she was.

"And I'm Yoshida Seiko! Nice to meet ya Izukkun!" She pointed at herself with her thumb before lunging and trapping the boy in a hug. Izuku may not have jumped into a river and saved her from drowning, but he was still a hero in her book; a hero of feelings, making the thunder and worry go away with good words and a sunny smile. And as was beginning to become Seiko's customary way of thanking a hero, he was deserving of a hug.

Releasing him after a few seconds and an extra squeeze for good measure, Seiko bounced away, glancing towards the sky. The sun was rapidly disappearing behind the large school, casting blueish shadows that stretched almost to where she and Izukkun stood. Even if there wasn't a clock to tell her Seiko knew that this was near the time her sister should be coming home― if she wasn't home already. She was going to get in trouble if she didn't hurry back soon.

Seiko turned and began to dash towards home as fast as her short legs would go, yelling over her shoulder, "I gotta go now! Bye!"

Izuku waved as the little girl sped off, feeling pleased with himself for being able to help. He stood up, absently tracking the child while his curiosity led him towards a thoughtful stupor. It was amazing, the fact that Bakugo hadn't driven the little girl away. Even if he could be nice, consistency of that kind didn't really seem to fit into the mold he had made for himself. Bakugo was coarse and short tempered, and Seiko's optimistic energy seemed like something that would drive him crazy.

'There has to be something about her,' he mused. 'Something that not even Kacchan could resist.'

As he thought this, Seiko stopped running. She cocked her head to the side for a second before twirling around. The fading sunlight seemed to hone in on her and the little girl seemed to glow. With a large, merry smile and a tiny hand waving vigorously in the air she called out to him.

"Keep up the good work, Izukkun! You're gonna be an awesome hero!"

A flash of heat bloomed across his face and Seiko began running again, taking the shine of the sun with her.

In that moment Izuku thought he understood Kacchan a little better, but all he could think was, 'Oh.'

"Is it my turn yet?" Seiko whined, bouncing from foot to foot as she struggled to see who was winning, and, subsequently, if the game was over yet.

Zeke and Lau bobbed from side to side as they moved with their controllers, often knocking into each other with a good amount of obnoxious snickering. Around them the sounds of other game machines beeped and buzzed, chimed and sang and rang for winners. Seiko temporarily abandoned her fruitless attempt to see the screen her friends were using and looked around wistfully at the other games. Zeke had insisted they come to the arcade today instead of going to the park, saying they'd play all the games and win a bunch of tickets, but so far the only game he and Lau had played was Double Dragon over and over again. And they haven't let her have a turn even once!

The little girl puffed up her cheeks and exhaled heavily, blowing her bangs out of her eyes for a few seconds. She scowled at the two boys when they didn't answer her before sharply turning on her heels to stomp down the aisle. Those two jerks could keep playing their stupid game. There were other games― games that actually gave tickets ―that she wanted to play anyways.

Today was a busy day though. Other kids, all of them bigger and most definitely older than her, were clustered together around the different machines. Everyone was loud and enjoying themselves. She passed a group that was playing a racing game. And another that was shooting hoops, or spraying down clown faces with water guns, or tossing little bouncy balls at targets. The only game that didn't appear to be taken was a single lane of skeeball at the very end of the aisle. Seiko hurriedly skipped to it with the intent to claim it before someone else did.

Shoving her hand into her pocket the little girl eagerly fished out a couple of coins― only for them to slip from her butter fingers and roll away.

"Ah! No come back!" Seiko ran after the money, stomping her feet every time she neared the run away coins. This took her around one of the machines and right into someone's leg. As the child fell on her rear the coins bounced off a thick combat boot and spun to a clinking stop. Undeterred, the little girl scrambled to snatch the coins before anything else could happen.

"Whoa, you okay there?" Before Seiko could do anything― like, say, bask in the victory of finally catching the coins, or even apologizing to the stranger ―a pair of rather large hands had found their way beneath her arms and the next thing she knew she was being hoisted from the ground.

"There, standing like a champ already!"

The little girl looked up with both an apology and a thank you tumbling out of her mouth, but the words quickly died as she took in the sight of red horn-haired boy grinning down at her. Her mouth fell open, stunned by how cute and familiar the big kid was. She knew this boy― he was big bro's super nice friend!

"Cute dragon!" Seiko gasped, pointing at him with mounting excitement. Yeah, this was the boy whose quirk could harden his skin so it was as tough as dragon scales! Along with the horns in his hair, and his super sharp teeth then he was like a human-dragon-dude! With all of those things going for him then it had only been logical, in Seiko's opinion, to refer to him as the 'cute dragon' whenever she thought of him.

Meanwhile said boy was busy attempting to discern which part of the little girl's declaration deserved what reaction. Was his face on fire because she called him cute or because she called him a dragon? Which part should he be more proud for being called: Cute or Dragon? Why had she called him a cute dragon? And there was so much confidence in the statement it was almost as if she knew him! Wait― she didn't know him, did she?

Kirishima peered a little closer, taking in everything from the messy black hair obscuring amber eyes, to the dull but sunny yellow hoodie. And like the flick of a light switch it clicked.

"Seiko?"

The child beamed in response and he couldn't help but reciprocate the sentiment. It had felt like a long time since he last saw the kid, although in actuality it had only been a few days. After Seiko's disappearance― which, despite asking Bakugo what had happened and being brushed off, he had no clue as to why she vanished ―the little girl had made quite the notable effort to make up for the lost time. At this point she had become a one man cheer squad for the entire Yuuei student body. But the world seemed a little brighter because of it.

Yet not long after then the school itself had been thrown for a loop and nearly tossed to the wolves. With the attack on USJ setting the school out of commission for almost two days then no one had been able to do anything, and then with the news of the Sports Festival coming up then everyone had gotten down to business focusing on training.

But today Kirishima had plans to do just one, normal, typical high schooler activity before he committed himself to one of the most intense training regiments of his life. Needless to say that this was a pleasant addition to said plans, though.

"What brings you here kiddo?" Kirishima slid his hands into his pockets as he continued to give the little girl a sharp grin.

Like unlocking the floodgate, as his Pop would often say about chatty people. Seiko took a deep breath before opening her mouth and instantly Kirishima knew that he was in for a long explanation.

"Well me 'n Zeke 'n Lau wanted to go out and do somethin' fun today cause it's Saturday and Saturdays' are for playin' out of the neighborhood," she began matter-of-factly. "I wanted to go and play Heroes at the big park 'cause I got a new Moiya umbrella and wanted to beat up Melon Lord with it. But Zeke said his ma was gonna take him into town to come here and play at the arcade and said that's where was gonna go. He also said we'd play a lotta games and collect so many tickets that we'd be able to buy one of the big prizes, but he 'n Lau ain't done nothin' but play Double Dragon since we got here. And I ain't even had a turn yet! So I was gonna play Ski Ball but my coins jumped outta my hands and here we are!"

Seiko threw her hands up in the air, finishing with a huff and a pink face. He quirked an eyebrow, chuckling. "Really? That doesn't sound very fair of your.. er, friends."

To be honest that didn't even sound like the kids were actually friends. This Zeke person must have been the head of the group, calling all the shots like he did, and Lau was the kid in between him and Seiko― nothing short of a follower, really. As for the little girl… Just from that dissertation alone it sounded more like the girl was merely being allowed to be apart of their group. Like popular kids keeping a 'nobody' around for show, among other things. A bully's pet, if he were to go so far.

Now he understood better why Bakugo had shown nothing but contempt at the mention of Seiko's 'friends'.

The little girl lowered her arms and scuffed the floor with a green boot. She shrugged a couple of times. "It's nothin' new. They can be jerks sometimes but they're still my best friends."

'Uh-uh. Nope. Objection!' he wanted to yell out. He knew what best friends were supposed to be like― how they acted, how they made him feel, what they would do for him and he they in return ―and what she had were most definitely not people worthy of possessing the title of a best friend. Something needed to be done to rectify that, and Kirishima knew just where to start.

"Well if your friends aren't gonna play with you how about you come and play with me and my friends?" He held out a hand while pointing over his shoulder with the other. Then a bit more slyly he added, "There's someone there who I'm sure would be happy to see you."

Well, happy was probably an incorrect choice in words considering who it was, but in any case it caused Seiko's eyes to light up. He could practically see the dots connecting in her mind and the realization began to show in the form of an excited bounce. The little girl eagerly took his outstretched hand, chirping her agreement.

The two of them began to walk down the aisle where everyone was fired up entertaining themselves.

Kaminari was the first to notice him. "Dude what took you so lo― Where'd the kid come from?"

"If you haven't noticed already we're surrounded by kids." Sero, focusing so intently on his game of Pac-Man that he almost looked bored, commented dryly. "It's almost like we're in a place where they're known to congregate."

The blonde shot his friend an overly shocked look, gasping and daintily covering his mouth. "Really? I never would have guessed! What would I ever do without you around, Captain Obvious."

Seiko looked up at Kirishima and giggled. The older boy shook his head, rolling his eyes as he watched Sero puff out his chest and point his already long nose a little higher in the air. He cut in before the two could take their bantering a step further.

"Do you guys know where Blasty went? There's someone here who'd like to see him."

The duo shrugged simultaneously. "He wandered off muttering about how he was wasting his time here or something." Kaminari waved his hand behind him exasperatedly.

"He's getting a soda!" A cheery voice announced, and seconds later a pink floof appeared at his side. Mina's dark eyes peered curiously around him and she beamed innocently at the little girl. "Hey there little cutie, you wouldn't happen to be the kid that waits for Grouchy after school, would you?"

Seiko stared in awe at the pink wonder before her with her mouth slightly agape. She's seen a lot of colorful people in her time (short as it was) and it never ceased to amaze her the individuality a single quirk could give to a person. (And it probably never would, either.) There've been blue heroes― Moiya was a fine example ―green heroes, red, gold, brown and black. Heroes that were a rainbow. Heroes that were colorless. But this was her first time seeing such a straight up fluffy, pretty, pink hero. It was like looking at a cartoonish butterfly in human form!

"Whoa! What's your quirk miss? Do you have wings? Why're you pink? Are you learning to be a hero too? Do you have any special attacks? What's your hero name?" Kirishima's hand was abandoned in a flash as the little girl practically materialized in front of Mina, a dozen questions spewing from her mouth at rapid fire. Delighted at the sudden show of tenacity, Mina couldn't help but laugh and turn a little violet in the face as she crouched down to be at eye level with the kid. This girl reminded her of Midoriya. A lot.

Luckily Mina was the Queen of rapid communication. "Name's Mina! Quirk: Acid― No I don't have wings, the acid from my quirk makes me pink, yes I'm learning to be a hero, no special attacks yet, and I was thinking maybe 'Alien Queen' for a hero name."

If the kid's eyes could get any wider, she wouldn't have much of a face to speak of. "Neat-o! Although I think you look more like a Lady Butterfly than an Alien Queen, 'cause your hair's all super floofy and― and your horns are like butterfly antenna. Oh, and I'm Yoshida Seiko, but my hero name's Sunny!" She leaned in closer and brought her voice to a whisper, grinning. "Big bro helped me come up with that."

'That's incredibly domestic for Bakugo,' Mina couldn't help but think, 'yet it fits her like a glove!'

A shadow fell over them and the two looked up to see Sero with his hands on his hips. Despite the serious posture it was obvious that he was trying hard not to laugh. "Wait, hold the fire. So you're the kid that's been managing to tame Blasty McSplodes-a-lot? Hello and how do you do that?!"

He knelt down and held out his hand. Seiko's eyes were resolutely glued to the bulbous projections coming out of his elbows to even notice it, let alone the words coming out of his mouth. Grabby hands instantly kicked in and she completely skipped over his outstretched hand to begin examining what was obviously going to become her next obsession for the next few minutes.

"What's this? How does it work?"

"I'm sensing a theme here," Sero mouthed before eagerly turning to explain the mechanics of his tape arms. Unfortunately he never got the chance to start.

"What the hell? What are you doing here runt?" And just like that Seiko vanished yet again. Everyone turned to watch her run towards Bakugo, who had finally deigned to return. At some point Kirishima had gone off and retrieved him.

"Big bro!" Seiko skidded to a halt just before she collided into Katsuki's legs, bouncing up and down full of giggles galore.

All Bakugo could see was a curly haired puppy yapping excitedly at his feet and it put him at a loss as to what to do with it. Seiko quickly settled down― but not enough that it wouldn't be apparent that she was still buzzingly overjoyed ―and he could finally use his glare without feeling marginally guilty about it.

"You didn't answer my question," he growled.

The little girl hid her hands behind her back and attempted to appear casual. "It's an arcade. Kids are known to con-gre-grate here."

Behind her Kaminari and Sero came exceedingly close to mimicking a pack of hyenas. Bakugo opened and closed his mouth a couple times but once again found that he was powerless to respond in his preferred scathing manner. She had just used sarcasm without realizing it and now those two idiots were laughing and encouraging her for it; how was one supposed to respond to that? Oh, and don't forget the big round eyes that symbolized everything good and pure working in tandem with the goofy grin. What was there for him to be mad at with a power combo like that in play?

"Real cute," he muttered dryly. He eyed Seiko as she hopped closer still. She hesitated for a split second before raising her arms up, bouncing back and forth on the tips of her toes. Dumbly, he stared at her, and everyone else stared at him. Watching. Waiting to see what he would do.

In his mind he was instantly classifying this moment as a Class A Danger; a trap. If he picked her up― in front of a damning audience like this ―then he was showing some kind of weakness, it would feel like. If he didn't then not only would he be faced with Seiko's disappointment (he did catch that hesitation), but more than likely he wouldn't hear the end of the underhanded comments about his assholish ways. In the end he was put at a personal stalemate. Bakugo didn't do well with stalemates.

Bakugo was also not the kind to take trivial matters like this into consideration, yet here he was. His social plan usually revolved around acting first, thinking later. As a result the moment he had begun his high school career the little social life he'd had before all but vanished. Everyone could go die in a hole for all he cared.

But… in order to better himself as Seiko's hero, he was trying.

Still, he wasn't going to outright spoil the kid by holding her. She was a big girl and honestly he didn't need another reason for people to mistake him as her older brother.

"I'm not picking you up," he groused.

"Well get down here then," the kid responded stubbornly, "cause I wanna give you a hug."

Or else a wild third option would appear to trap him just when he thought he could get away with going for one of the lesser evils. Damn this kid for being unintentionally witty when it counted.

And then the brat had the audacity to scowl at him! The annoying little voice in the back of his head promptly informed him that this is what came of letting her hang around. Monkey see, monkey do after all.

Bakugo huffed before giving in and crouching down. As Seiko latched onto him he fixed everyone with a dour stare and a silent promise that he would murder them all in their sleep if they started spreading weird rumors about him because of this.

"I'm glad you're okay," Seiko suddenly whispered, her voice somewhat muffled through his coat. Katsuki opened his mouth to demand what the hell she was talking about, but really he didn't need to ask. The attack at USJ was still a recent event in everyone's minds. Anybody that was anyone had found out about within the hour of it happening, it came as no surprise that Seiko had learned of it. With one thing coming right after another he hadn't been able to wonder about how the kid was feeling though.

If he had to make a guess now, however, then she must have been pretty worried.

His face grew warm and reflexively he ducked his head. "Yeah, yeah…," he mumbled and awkwardly wrapped an arm around her as well. "Not like a bunch of half-rates could take the King down or anything."

She giggled. "Right! Nothing can take King down!"

Bakugo nodded, a grin testing itself at the corners of his mouth.

"Damn straight."

Meanwhile, lurking nearby:

"Aren't we gonna tell her it's time to go?" Lau, a lanky boy for a six year old, who also possessed the world's worst fidgeting habit thanks to his flexible limbs, curiously asked the boy next to him.

Zeke glowered darkly as he watched Sei-chan amidst the throng of big kids, laughing it up while they moved on to play a game. He had invited her to come and play with him and Lau not them. The little boy's dark expression shifted with a smile as he turned away from the scene.

"Nope!" He popped the 'p', showering his fat lips with a little spittle. "And we're gonna tell my mom that she already got picked up, got it?"

Zeke considered himself an expert on the phrase 'payback'― something Sei-chan should have been all too aware of at this point. Oh well. It wasn't his fault she was too dumb to have seen this coming.

Lau shrugged. Honestly, he couldn't care less. Sure, Sei-chan was fun to play with but she wasn't really his friend. She was like his pet monkey Xinyi― entertaining. The things he and Zeke would make her do could chase the boredom away any day.

And this? This was gonna be really funny.

"Woo! Who's ready to face the Queen of Dance next? The undefeated Lady of the Floor?" Mina cheered as she balanced on the bar hanging off the DDR machine. To the other side of her Kaminari stumbled off the dais, his legs jelly and brain more on the fritz than when he overexerted his quirk.

Further on Sero blanched. "Sorry Mina, but I chose life."

"I'm not playing that stupid game," Bakugo grouched.

Seiko sought to intervene before Kirishima could offer to face the pinkette for round two. She threw both hands in the air and bounded forward. "Me! Me! I wanna turn!"

Mina smiled at the little girl, setting herself down and making a move to get the game ready.

"Aha! A brave challenger!" she winked at Seiko. "Just be warned: I won't go easy on you."

The child scrambled onto the dance pad, furiously brushing her hair out of her eyes as a determined air settled over her. She nodded and Mina fed the machine a few more coins before starting her selection on the settings. However, Seiko had a different idea in mind.

"Wait! Not Easy! I wanna do it on your level."

The pinkette gave her challenger a concerned look. "You sure you wanna play on Expert? It's reeeaallly difficult you know."

In response the kid gave her a look that said she knew what she was about. Mina glanced at Bakugo over her shoulder and he glared in response, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"The fuck you looking at me for? If the runt says she wants to play Death mode then let her. It'll serve her right when she attends her own funeral."

She glanced at the other three and received no support. With a defeated sigh she shrugged it off and put the game on Expert mode. A song was picked and then there were only a few seconds to prepare herself.

As for Seiko…

Destroyer Mode: Engaged

When the arrows began to fly across the screen the child pulled forth energy that many adults have speculated as a reserve that could syphon off everyone in the nearby vicinity in order to give a single kid the ability to remain active for hours on end without tiring. The little girl became a blur as she hopped from arrow to arrow. Anybody watching her was floored.

Denki fell to his knees and pulled at his hair. Kirishima openly gawked.

"The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you." Sero, hardly a religious man, was repeatedly forming the cross while muttering the mantra as he eyed what was clearly a child channeling some kind of speed demon.

Bakugo simply wanted to know why she was good at this but tripped over literally everything else.

But with great power comes a great cost.

At the end of what one might consider a rampage everything for the two players on the dance pad began to finally slow down. For Mina she was breathless and starting to feel the strain of dancing for three games in a row. For Seiko the world began to spin when she finally let go of her breath with a loud gasp. She fell onto her butt none too gracefully and proceeded to watch the black spots dance around.

"You're supposed to breathe dumbass." Bakugo clicked his tongue as he sauntered closer, leaning against the railing. "Otherwise you're just asking to pass out."

A corner of his mouth quirked up. "Still, that wasn't bad for a runt."

"Wasn't bad, he says," Kaminari muttered simultaneously alongside Sero. "Wasn't bad? That was insa―"

"That was awesome way to go Sei-ko!" Kirishima pumped his fist in the air. "I didn't think anyone could take on Mina and survive."

Said girl crouched down and held out her hand for a high five. "Those were some slick moves kiddo! High five!"

Seiko raised her hand to meet demands but quickly rerouted it to cover her mouth as she yawned. At this everyone grew aware that it was getting later and that they still had other things to do. After Kirishima checked his phone and announced to group that it was a quarter after five they had all unanimously agreed that it was best they start heading home.

Upon hearing the time the little girl suddenly became serious. Ignoring the wooziness that lingered on from her (triumphant) battle she scrambled towards the other aisle where she had last left Zeke and Lau. Zeke's mom said she'd be picking them up at four, but if it really was the time Kirishima had said then either Zeke's mom was late or…

There was no sign of either of the boys at the Double Dragon machine. She frantically checked the other rows but found no trace of her friends.

Either Zeke's mom was late, or they had left without her.

The panic of the situation hadn't set in just yet, but it was definitely waiting to. Seiko could feel it.

"Hey Seiko, where are your friends?" The little girl whirled around to find Kirishima standing at the end of the row with a jacket slung over his shoulder. Though he didn't know who he was looking for the red head still searched the quickly emptying aisle for anyone that Seiko might have come with. With her head hanging, the child ran up to him.

"They, um, left without me."

Kirishima frowned before silently holding out his hand to her. She took it and together they went back to the group.

"It seems Seiko's ride ditched her," he declared before they had even come to a stop. Everyone snapped to attention at that. Bakugo's eyes spelled danger as he quickly pieced things together despite the lack of information. Past experiences gave him enough reason to justify placing the blame on those brats.

"The next time I see those two―," he began, only to be cut off by the red-horned boy.

"Will you help take Seiko home?"

Seiko perked up and looked hopefully towards big bro. He closed his mouth with an audible click before nodding. It was obvious he had a lot of things he wanted to say about Zeke and Lau, but he knew he'd get an earful for it any way he looked at it. Besides, the one who needed to understand what he said about those kids wasn't going to listen to him anyways.

Kirishima let Seiko's hand slip out of his as she bounced over towards her big bro's side. Not wanting to wait around any longer Bakugo began to head out, and the rest followed after. Outside they parted ways with Sero. They walked on with with spirits rising little bit by little bit as they tried to regain some of the more pleasant feelings from before they left. Seiko proved once again that children really had no limit to their energy.

("It's like she brings a pickaxe with her just so she can dig her way through rock bottom and prove there's another well beneath it!" Kaminari exclaimed at one point.)

The little group reached an intersection, but they weren't forced to wait long. Soon traffic slowed and the road appeared clear. The walk sign flicked on.

"Green man means go!" Seiko recited the line while bolting forward. At that same moment a muscle car revved into the turn lane. Despite the light being red there was no indication of slowing down given from the driver.

"Seiko no!" Mina cried. Time moved like molasses as she and her friends all made a move to reach for the little girl. But whether it was because they were a step behind, just a hair too slow, or even that their reach just simply wasn't long enough, a sinking feeling told them they wouldn't make it in time.

A hand lashed out, yanking a fistful of the child's collar and pulled her back onto the curb before the speeding vehicle could so much as even clip her. Bakugo fell down with Seiko sprawled across his legs. His heart thundered in his chest, his ears; his entire body pulsed with that fear again.

He tracked the car as it roughly skidded around the corner, yelling obscenities after it. "That was a red-fucking-light motherfucker!"

His throat was raw and the car long gone by the time he quit cursing the reckless driver out, but he wasn't done. Bakugo rounded on the child attempting to pick herself up, no less angry at her than he was with the other asswipe.

"And you," he seethed. "Just because the green man means go doesn't mean you just book it into the street! You still have to look both ways because assholes like that―," his thumb jerked over his shoulder, "don't seem to catch the memo that red means you have to fucking stop! And didn't you ever learn that you're supposed to hold someone's hand when you cross the street? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Hey man, stop wailing into her, she gets it!" Kirishima intervened, blocking his line of sight as he helped Seiko stand up and checked over her to make sure she was alright. Mina and Kaminari crowded around as well, worry not even beginning to cover the extent of what they were feeling.

Bakugo bit his tongue before he could say something he might regret.

Amber eyes peered around the older boy, wide and not as bright as they had been a few moments ago. She had never seen big bro that mad before, but she had seen that kind of mad more than once. Chiyuki was often scolding her like that for being careless, so she knew that she had done something wrong. (Although nearly getting ran over was also a big indicator.)

But it wasn't just his anger that made her feel horrible. Seeing the panic cling to the edges of Bakugo's crimson eyes was worse than falling into an ice cold river. That emotion was not one that belonged in the proud boy's expression.

Seiko stepped around Kirishima and held out her hand to Bakugo.

"'M sorry. I won't do that again, promise."

Katsuki stared at the little hand offered to him for a long time. He couldn't stop picturing his own the moment he had reached out and pulled her out of the road. If he had been even a second off then…

He took her hand without realizing it. "I'm putting that promise on your tab, and you better pay up on it." His grip on that small hand tightened as he hoisted himself of the ground.

After the first time he had saved this kid Bakugo had thought his work as her hero was a bit more cut out, geared towards growing and bettering himself as a person. But there was still danger wherever this girl walked. Something like a careless, reckless action would be all that it took to end a life as small as hers.

There was still so much work he needed to do to prevent such an accident from ever occurring.

The little group stepped up to the crosswalk, and when the green man appeared everyone walked onto it holding hands.

Hello! Yes! I am alive and so is this story! I've been sitting on this chapter since September while writer's block handed me my ass on a silver platter. For that I apologize, and I apologize if any of this chapter seems rushed or anything of the sort. Not only was writer's block continuing to fight me, but it's three in the morning right now and I'm running on desperation and an insufficient amount of goldfish. I'll come back and edit this at some point, but in the meantime this will do because *sobs* it's finally done!

A big thank you to every single last one of you that has shown support for this story! I'm so glad that you all find it enjoyable (and at times emotional). It really means a lot to me.

And as for Next Chapter: Hide and Rescue

In which it's really not as serious as it sounds.