Tick… tick… tick…
That sound again.
Even though his eyes were closed, Koku could hear it — the faint, mechanical heartbeat of a broken watch echoing in his mind.
Then, a voice.
"You can't fix time, Koku… you are time's mistake."
His eyes snapped open.
The world around him came into focus — sterile white walls, the faint smell of antiseptic.
He was in the U.A. infirmary.
A dull pain throbbed behind his eyes. His body felt heavy, like every muscle was made of lead.
He tried to sit up but the room swayed.
"Easy there, time boy," a familiar voice said.
It was Aina, sitting by his bedside, her light-green eyes filled with concern.
"You've been out for almost a day. We thought your quirk burned out your brain or something."
Koku blinked slowly. "How… long?"
"Twenty hours," she replied. "Professor Erina said your Quirk created a local time field. You froze part of the training ground — even the data systems stopped recording."
Koku stared at the ceiling.
Twenty hours… yet his body felt like he hadn't rested at all.
Aina leaned forward, lowering her voice. "Hey… when Professor Erina said you might be from another timeline—was that true?"
Koku didn't answer immediately. His fingers tightened around the blanket.
"I don't know," he said at last. "But… my memories don't fit here. I remember a city that doesn't exist. A hero who never was. Maybe… she's right."
Aina bit her lip. "Then we'll figure it out together. Okay?"
Her smile was bright, fragile — like the light threads she controlled. And for the first time in a long while, Koku nodded.
That night, when the corridors fell silent, Professor Erina entered the infirmary.
She moved quietly, her violet eyes glowing faintly under the dim light.
"You shouldn't be awake," she said softly.
Koku was already sitting up, the faint blue glow of his watch illuminating his face.
"You knew," he said flatly. "About me. About… this power."
Erina sighed, taking a seat beside the bed.
"When I first saw your file, I thought it was a mistake. But the readings from your Quirk match something we recorded fifteen years ago — during the Chrono Fall Incident."
Her gaze drifted to the window, rain tapping softly against the glass.
"A time fracture appeared above Musutafu. It lasted three minutes. Then everything stopped. Hundreds vanished — including the hero known as Chrono Blade."
Koku's pulse quickened. The name struck something deep inside him.
"Chrono… Blade…"
Erina nodded. "He was the only one who could manipulate time without collapsing it. He disappeared… and then you appeared, twelve years later, with the same signature energy."
Koku's voice trembled. "You think I'm… him?"
"No," she whispered. "I think you're his echo."
Suddenly — the lights flickered.
A low hum filled the room. The air grew thick and cold, vibrating unnaturally.
Erina's eyes widened. "No… not here…"
A shadow rippled through the wall — black mist shaped like a human silhouette. Its edges bent reality itself, distorting space. The air around it flickered like static.
"Found you… Chrono Echo."
Koku felt his heartbeat stop.
The shadow stepped forward, its voice layered — like hundreds of whispers speaking in unison. Its body shimmered with fragments of broken clocks.
Erina raised her hand, activating her Quirk — Echo Recall. Time around her shimmered, replaying fragments of past movements to predict the shadow's next strike.
But the entity moved faster — it phased through her attack and reached for Koku.
"Your existence is the fracture. Return to the void."
Time began to warp — the room twisting like a broken film reel.
Koku clenched his fist. The watch glowed fiercely, pulsing in sync with his heart.
"I don't know what you are… but I won't let you erase me!"
"Chrono Breaker… Activate!"
The world froze.
Blue light exploded from his hand, tearing through the distortion. The shadow screamed — its voice like shattering glass — before vanishing into thin air.
The silence afterward was deafening.
Koku collapsed, panting.
Erina caught him before he hit the floor. Her eyes were wide, both in fear and awe.
"That… wasn't just time manipulation," she whispered. "You didn't freeze time. You erased it."
Koku looked up weakly.
"…Then what does that make me?"
Erina hesitated, then said the words she had feared since the first day she saw him.
"It makes you… the trigger of the Chrono Fall."