𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝑮𝑶𝑫 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗

第一章

𝟎𝟏. 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐄?

༻𖥸༺

KAMIHARA SHIN'YA WILL NEVER FORGET that faithful phone call that changed everything. Just a month shy of turning eighteen, coming back in after patrolling with pro hero Leap with whom he was sidekicking after graduation, his phone buzzes to life as he opens his locker to change back into civilian clothes. He doesn't even get to pull down his mask as he answers the phone, confused by the unknown number flashing on the screen. He didn't think much of it, answering with a customary "Hello?" as he reaches for his duffle bag.

A police officer answers him. Then the words that spill from his mouth are lost to static in his ears as he grabs his bag and hightails it out of the agency, phone still at his ear, not even saying goodbye to the receptionists manning the front desk. Terribly rude in hindsight, but, at that time, all he can hear playing on repeat in his mind is parents - car crash - two deaths - two hospitalized - Shizuoka General Hospital and his eyes burn and his heart thunders out of his rib cage and he can't breathe anymore there's lead in his lungs please let it not be true一

He rushes through the front doors of the hospital, not even knowing when he'd run so fast or how much time has passed and the officer is still on the phone trying to get him to respond but all that he says to the frazzled nurse at the front desk is "Kamihara." And it comes out so desperate, so disbelieving he can't even recognize himself. The nurse says a few things, but they fall on deaf ears, Shin'ya forgoing the elevator in favor of the stairs when he hears the number '348' fall out of her mouth.

By the time he reaches the room he's heaving for breath, heart beating out of control and hands shaking. The officer is no longer on the line, his phone silent in his hand. The duffle bag falls to the ground as he pushes the door open, eyes frantically searching the pristine and impersonal hospital room. Then everything stills when his eyes fall on the two beds pushed to the leftmost end of the room.

There, swaddled in bundles of bandages and hooked up to an IV drip each, heart monitors beeping in his ears, are the twin forms of his siblings. Tears well in his eyes as he falls in the space between the beds, his hands desperately taking hold of baby brothers' hands. "Thank God." The words come out choked and he's openly crying now but he can't bring himself to care. His brothers are alive.

He doesn't know how long he stays like that, kneeling on the floor in-between his little brothers' hospital beds, dressed still in his hero costume, dirty with sweat and grime from the day he's had. Vaguely, he remembers the duffle bag with his clothes, forgotten by the open door, but he can't bring himself to move. Can't bring himself to leave his baby brothers' side for even a moment. He looks up at the two of them, twin mops of iridescent, silvery white hair, a shade so different from his own greyish white hair, stand atop nearly identical cherubic faces.