Night blanketed the city in a soft, humming quiet.
Outside their bedroom window, the streetlight flickered—a warm orange pulse across the narrow road. The flower shop downstairs had long gone still. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Satoru lay in bed, blanket pulled to his chin, eyes wide open. Across the room, Keiko's desk lamp glowed softly. She was sitting cross-legged on her futon, flipping through a thick booklet of pamphlets and forms.
He watched her quietly, the way she tilted her head as she read, the way her brow furrowed when she hit something complicated. Every so often, she underlined a line with a red pen, then scribbled something in the margins.
Satoru finally spoke.
"You're really gonna do it?"
She looked up, startled. "Do what?"
"Apply to the police academy."
Keiko blinked. Then smiled faintly. "Yeah. I am."
Satoru shifted under his blanket. "But… you don't have a strong quirk."
"I've got strong fists. That's close enough."
He didn't laugh, but his mouth twitched a little. "Isn't it dangerous?"
Keiko leaned back, tossing the booklet onto the floor beside her. She stared at the ceiling.
"Yeah. Of course it is. But so is walking to school these days."
Satoru was quiet for a moment.
"Then… why do it?"
Keiko was silent for a while. The shadows from the window slanted across her face. When she finally answered, her voice had changed—lower, quieter, like she was saying something she didn't say out loud very often.
"Because I don't want to be the kind of person who just watches the bad stuff happen."
She turned toward him, eyes serious now.
"I get scared too, Satoru. You know that, right? Like, really scared. But the only way I've ever found to deal with it is to move anyway. Even if it's stupid. Even if I trip."
She gave him a crooked smile.
"You don't have to be fearless to do something brave. You just have to decide."
Satoru watched her. The words sat heavy in his chest.
"I always freeze," he admitted. "Even when I really want to move."
"Yeah," Keiko said. "I know."
She didn't sound disappointed. Just honest.
"But you know what?" she added, reaching over to flick his forehead gently. "One day, you'll surprise all of us."
He blinked.
"I will?"
Keiko grinned. "I've got a gut feeling. So don't make me look stupid."
---
Later that night, after the lamp was off and Keiko was breathing softly in sleep, Satoru sat up in bed.
He pulled open his desk drawer and took out a small notebook.
Flipping through the pages—most of them empty—he stopped on a single one with messy handwriting from weeks ago:
"Heroes don't freeze."
He stared at it for a long time.
Then, slowly, he crossed it out.
And underneath, he wrote:
> "Heroes get scared. But they move anyway."