…Light.

Not bright. Not harsh.

Just a thin, trembling thread of white that leaks through my eyelids, like dawn hesitating at the edge of consciousness.

Am I…?

My lungs hurt when I try to breathe deeply. My ribs feel wrapped in stone. Everything is slow—like my blood thickened while I slept and is only now learning how to move again.

A faint beeping anchors me. Monitors. Hospital.

Right… the war. All For One. Shigaraki. One For All burning out of me like the last ember of a dying star—

I force my eyes open.

The ceiling is the first thing I see. White. Still. Unmoving, unlike the battlefield that keeps flickering through my head in jagged flashes.

Then I feel it.

A weight on my stomach. Warm. Gentle. Soft fabric brushing against the thin blanket over me.

I lower my eyes.

She’s here.

She’s slumped over in the hospital chair beside my bed, her upper body folded toward me, her head resting lightly on my stomach. Strands of her long, pure-white hair spill across the sheets, shifting with faint iridescent hues that pulse like living moonlight. Even in the low, sterile hospital lighting, her skin seems to hold its own glow — a soft shimmer that bends the air around her just enough to look dreamlike.

The “Shimmer” field. Her quirk never really turns off. Even now, the room warps subtly at its edges — colors slightly off-true, shadows wavering like they’re breathing.

I swallow hard.

She helped win that fight… more than anyone expected. Pushing her abilities until the world around her bent like heated glass. Plants erupted from shattered ground. Air split in prismatic waves. Every enemy who came near her lost their bearings, their instincts scrambled by her aura.

And she stayed with me until the very end.

A sting spreads behind my eyes.

“…thank you,” I try to whisper, but it scratches out of me like broken gravel.

My right arm refuses to move — bandaged, bound, heavy. My left responds, barely.

I lift it. Slow. Shaking.

My fingers brush her hair first. Feather-light. Then her temple.

She stirs.

Her glow flutters — like light reflecting off rippling water — as her senses shift from sleep to waking. Even half-asleep, her quirk stirs the air, the reality in the room bending and easing around her consciousness re-forming.

Her eyelashes move.

For a second, I freeze.

What do I even say? How do I explain the battle, the last use of One For All, the emptiness I feel in my chest where that power used to hum like a heartbeat?

But none of that matters when her eyes finally open — iridescent, shifting hues reflecting mine.

I manage a small, pained smile.

“Hey… you...” My voice cracks, but the words make it out.