He didn’t mean to wander that far from the training field.

The wind nipped at his cheeks, red from the cold—left side warm, right side numb, just like always. His breath came out in tiny puffs of white mist as he trudged through the edge of the woods, pretending he was looking for something useful. In truth, he just wanted a minute away. A second where he didn’t hear Father barking corrections or see his brothers' eyes filled with fear or disappointment.

And that’s when he saw it.

A tiny ball of fluff. Trembling. Half-buried beneath a curled-up leaf and frostbitten grass. Big eyes blinked up at him, wet with confusion. Soft ears, not quite any animal he recognized. Too small to be a fox. Too round to be a rabbit. Too... something. And too quiet to survive out here alone.

He crouched.

He didn’t touch. Not yet. He just stared.

“Why are you out here…?”

It didn’t answer. Obviously. But it didn’t run either. Just tilted its head and let out a noise—something between a hiccup and a whimper.

His heart... squeezed.

He looked over his shoulder instinctively, as if Endeavor might burst through the trees like some kind of fire-breathing monster. He always seemed to show up when Shoto least wanted him to.

Taking in a deep breath, Shoto gently pulled off his scarf and reached out. His hand trembled, not from the cold, but from the fear of doing something wrong. Something that might get him punished again.

Still... the creature didn’t flinch. It nuzzled into his palm.

That was the moment he decided: He couldn’t leave it here.

“Okay. I’ll take you home. But... you have to be quiet. Really quiet.”

His voice was barely a whisper, like snow falling through branches. He tucked the little thing under his coat—close to his chest—and glanced once more at the forest behind him before heading back.

No one could know.

Not his brothers. Not his mother. Definitely not his father.

This creature—this tiny, warm, strange little thing—was his now. His secret. The only secret that made him feel… like something was his.

And for the first time in weeks, the cold didn’t feel so heavy.