It rained again in Naruhata.
Hard.
Grey skies. Slanted shadows. A city pretending to sleep.
Izuku sat under a busted canopy beside Eri, holding a cup of canned coffee.He hadn't blinked in minutes.
Across the alley, Stain sharpened his blade.Calm. Focused. Silent.
The kind of silence that made Izuku's hands twitch.
Then—
A voice cut through the downpour.
"Midoriya."
Izuku stood slowly.
He knew the voice.
Knew the anger behind it.
The weight.
And when Bakugo stepped into the light, drenched in rain, fists clenched, eyes wild—
Izuku didn't flinch.
Just whispered,
"…You found it."
Bakugo threw the soaked laptop at his feet.
"How long have you known?"
No one moved.
Even Stain stopped sharpening.
Izuku glanced at Eri—still asleep—then at Bakugo.
"Since the loop began."
Bakugo's jaw clenched.
He didn't scream.Didn't explode.
He just stepped closer.
"You've been walking around with the end of the world in your pocket, and you didn't say a word?"
"I couldn't."
"You mean you wouldn't."
A long pause.
Rain fell harder.
Izuku's voice barely carried above it.
"I had to change the order of events. I couldn't risk anything happening too early. If you knew, you'd act. If you acted… things might fall apart faster."
"You don't get to decide that alone."
"No. I don't. But someone had to."
Bakugo didn't punch him.
He wanted to.
But something in Izuku's eyes stopped him.
Not fear.
Regret.
And guilt so deep it looked like rot.
"I saw them," Bakugo said quietly. "The videos. The fights. The deaths."
Izuku nodded once.
"You watched yourself die?"
"Hundreds of times."
A beat.
"And… me?"
"…Seventy-four."
The word hit like a bomb.
Bakugo didn't speak for several seconds.
He just… looked away.
Then:
"You ever rewind it?"
"Only once."
"What happened?"
"You died screaming my name."
The silence now was unbearable.
Eri stirred in her sleep. Whimpered.
Bakugo noticed the patch on her neck—the Quirk-suppressant.
"…You can't stop it, can you?"
"No."
"Then why keep trying?"
Izuku looked at her.
This tiny, broken child.
And then back at him.
"Because I refuse to let her become a weapon again."
Bakugo stared at her for a long time.
Then, finally, stepped beside Izuku.
"Then let me help."
Izuku blinked.
Surprised.
"…You believe me?"
"No."
Bakugo smirked faintly.
"But I believe her."
Later that night, they sat together in silence.
Stain stood on the roof above them, unseen but alert.
And below, in the dark—
Two boys who once hated each other…
Plotted the end of the world.
Together.
Somewhere far away, Chisaki entered a room.
A circular chamber.
Sterile. Humid. Stinking of chemicals.
In the center:A tank. Full of fluid.And something moving inside.
"Is she ready?" he asked.
The scientist nodded.
"We have enough samples. All For One's tech accelerated her growth."
A figure shifted in the mist.
A little girl.
Hair white.
Eyes closed.
But her horn—
Glowing. Crimson.
Chisaki smiled.
"This time, we do it right."
End of Chapter 12