Tsutsumi found himself standing still for a moment longer than necessary, his gaze lowered to his own hands.
They were empty now. Just moments ago, they had been holding her.
He flexed his fingers slightly, as if expecting to still feel the fading warmth she left behind, but there was nothing there anymore. The sensation had already slipped away, just like she had.
Unlike the other times, he didn't try to push this feeling aside.
He had been through this enough to recognize it for what it was.
Every time, it started the same way. He met someone, spent time with them, learned who they were beneath everything they showed to the world. And somewhere along the way, without really noticing when it happened, he would start to care. It wasn't something he could stop, and at this point, he knew better than to pretend otherwise.
If he stayed long enough, if he understood them and they understood him in return, then that was how it would end.
With feelings he didn't plan for. And a goodbye he couldn't avoid.
Artoria had been no different.
Similar to her, his feelings for her were also a twisted love-hate.
At the start, all he felt toward her was resentment. He hated her for what she had done, for the role she played in Jeanne's death. That anger stayed with him for a long time, even as they fought, even as they spoke. It would have been easier if it had stayed that way.
But it didn't.
Because the more he saw of her, the more that anger stopped being enough on its own. He understood her, piece by piece, not as an enemy or a face similar to someone he had lost, but as herself.
And once that happened, holding onto that hatred alone didn't make sense anymore.
It didn't disappear. It just… changed.
His feelings for her settled somewhere in between, something uneven and difficult to define. There was still blame, still traces of what he couldn't forgive, but there was also something else layered over it, a twisted kind of love-hate.
Even so, in the end, it followed the same pattern.
He lost her.
It still stung just like all the other times before it, but he has learned to accept and live with it.
Not every ending was meant to be a happy one. He understood that now, not as something he was forced to accept, but as something he had already made peace with.
Some things simply ended where they were meant to. And he would keep moving, the same as always.
...
Back in his original world.
By the time he and Jiro left the Jiro house and made their way back toward U.A.
Jiro walked beside him, glancing over after a while.
"What's with the strange watch you gave your sister?" she asked, her tone casual, but her eyes paying closer attention than her voice suggested.
Tsutsumi kept his hands in his pockets, his gaze forward.
"Nothing much," he replied. "Just something to contact me when needed."
That was the simplest way to put it.
He thought back briefly to what his teacher had told him about the warning passed down from a future version of himself. Someone out there had managed to take his power. Not just any part of it, but something tied directly to Decade.
It wasn't something he could ignore. So he prepared for it in his own way.
Splitting off over half of his power, turning it into a Decade Rider Watch, then he handed it over to Miyu without much explanation beyond what she needed to know.
If she ever pressed it, he would know instantly. And with the Aurora Curtain, distance didn't matter.
He could reach her no matter where she ended up.
It wasn't about expecting something to go wrong.
It was just making sure that if it did, she wouldn't be alone.
As long as he didn't activate it himself, the power stored inside would remain separate, untouched. And even if someone else got their hands on it, it wouldn't respond.
As long as you don't meet the right conditions, a Rider's power wasn't something that could just be taken and used.
Jiro was quiet for a second, then hopped up onto the Machine Decader from behind, her arms loosely wrapping around him.
"So you gave your sister something like that and not me?" she asked, a hint of complaint slipping through.
Tsutsumi didn't even turn his head.
"Duh," he said flatly. "She's my sister."
There wasn't really anything else to add to that.
In this world, Miyu was the one person who understood him in a way that didn't need explaining. Like him, she has the potential to move between worlds using the Aurora Curtain, even if her control over it is still rough.
Jiro let out a small breath, resting her chin lightly against his shoulder.
"I guess you do have a point…" she murmured.
She didn't sound entirely happy about it, but she wasn't arguing either.
It made sense.
Without his mother, Miyu was all he had left in terms of family. Looking out for her wasn't something he had to think about; it was just how things were.
The rest didn't need to be said.
As for the change in his own strength, he kept that to himself.
Only his Decade power had been split. Everything else remained the same. It wasn't enough to make a noticeable difference in how he carried himself, and there was no reason to bring it up.
By the time they reached U.A., things were already in motion.
Upon returning, Mirko contacted him. Saying that the raid was about to begin.
After all the investigations, all the cross-checking and verification, they had arrived at the same conclusion Tsutsumi had given them from the start. The location hadn't changed.
It could be said that the talk between Nighteye and Miyabi was a bit awkward because of this.
Since Miyabi knows just how ridiculous and efficient Tsutsumi can be, she didn't press this issue and decided to give Nighteye some faces by not drilling him for it, and even stopping Mirko from rubbing it in his face.
When they met, Tsutsumi was about to rub it in Nighteye's face for wasting time, only for Miyabi to shut him up before he accidentally made Nighteye, Midoriya, and Mirio die from guilt.
With everything in place, the operation moved forward.
And just like that, the raid on the Shie Hassaikai began.
While the police and the lower-ranked heroes stayed outside to deal with the larger yakuza groups and buy time, the main force didn't slow down and pushed straight into the compound, forcing their way through any resistance that tried to stall them.
Nighteye stepped forward, intending to use his Quirk to locate the hidden entrance, but before he could activate it, Miyabi spoke up and stopped him.
"There's no need," she said, her eyes already focused ahead.
Her Quirk let her see the outlines of souls, and right now, she could clearly make out a cluster of them packed tightly together behind one section of the wall.
She raised her hand and pointed without hesitation. "Mirko, kick that wall."
Mirko didn't question it. She smirked, rolled her shoulder once, and launched herself forward in the next instant. Her foot slammed into the wall with full force, shattering it completely and exposing the hidden stairway behind it, along with the group of men stationed there who were sent flying down from the impact before they could react.
"Out of the way, small fries!"
She didn't stop there. Grabbing Decade by the back of his collar, she dragged him along and jumped straight down toward the group trying to rush up the stairs.
Decade let himself be pulled along without resistance, already pulling out a card with his free hand and sliding it into his Driver.
Form Ride: FrostNova!
They crashed through the first line of defense the moment they landed, breaking their formation instantly, and by the time the next group tried to close in, the two of them were already standing inside a large open hall filled with more men waiting ahead.
A number of them immediately recognized Mirko and tensed up, but their attention quickly shifted to the smaller white-haired rabbit girl standing beside her, unsure of what to make of her presence.
Decade's gray eyes narrowed slightly as a cold chill spread outward from where he stood. Frost began to form beneath his feet and slowly crept across the ground, the temperature dropping enough to make the air feel heavy.
Mirko didn't pay it any mind. She crouched slightly and burst forward again, moving at a speed that left most of them unable to react in time, striking through them one after another without slowing down.
Decade, on the other hand, simply walked forward at his own pace. Anyone who got too close felt the cold reach them almost instantly, ice spreading across their bodies, locking their limbs in place and biting deep enough to make movement impossible before fully encasing them where they stood.
The difference in their approach didn't matter. Between the two of them, the fight ended just as quickly.
By the time the others made their way down the stairs, there was nothing left to deal with.
The sight was enough to catch some of them off guard, but it didn't take long for a few of the heroes to notice something else. The hallway ahead was completely empty, with no clear path forward, ending in what looked like a solid wall.
Lemillion didn't waste time. He stepped forward and phased through it, quickly confirming what some of them were suspecting.
"It's fake," he called back.
Deku and Red Riot moved immediately, breaking through the false wall and opening a path for everyone else to follow.
They pushed forward, but didn't get far before the structure around them began to shift. The walls moved, the floor separated, and even the ceiling adjusted, splitting their formation apart before they could react.
It was clearly the result of someone's Quirk, and within seconds, they were completely divided.
Decade found himself alone in a different room, looking around at the enclosed space with little interest.
"Well, this is getting complicated," he muttered.
He didn't bother trying to figure out the layout. Instead, he pulled out a small handheld mirror, turned it once in his hand, and stepped straight into it as its surface rippled.
A few seconds later, several villains stepped out from the corner of the room, clearly intending to make some kind of entrance, only to freeze when they saw that the person they were supposed to be dealing with was no longer there.
"This place really is a mess," Decade murmured, glancing around as he walked, his tone flat and unbothered as if the shifting walls and twisting corridors were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
He didn't slow down, but he didn't rush either. There was no point wasting time dealing with every group that showed up in front of him. Most of them were just there to stall, and fighting them would only drag things out longer than necessary. He wasn't here for them.
He was looking for the one in charge.
Still, the entire place was structured like a maze, and whoever was controlling it clearly knew how to make it work in their favor. Paths changed, walls shifted, and even when he thought he had a straight route, it would twist into something else before long.
Decade let out a small breath before deciding not to bother navigating it the normal way. Instead, he had Azu hack into Overhaul's phone, letting her track his position directly and map out where he needed to go.
It didn't take long.
Once he had the location, he adjusted his path and continued forward without hesitation.
After a short while, he reached the right spot and, from the mirror world, he observed quietly through the reflection of a broken lens lying nearby, watching the fight already taking place.
Overhaul was in the middle of it, facing Lemillion.
With a touch of his hand, the terrain shifted violently, spikes erupting from the ground in quick succession as he tried to skewer Lemillion from multiple directions. The attacks came one after another without pause, forcing Lemillion to constantly move, dodge, and phase to avoid getting hit.
At the same time, he was holding Eri.
That alone limited how much he could use his Quirk. He couldn't move as freely as he normally would, couldn't take the same risks, and yet he didn't let that stop him.
He kept fighting.
Every opening he got, he used it. Every movement was measured, making the most out of what he had instead of hesitating over what he couldn't do. Even while being pushed back, he steadily regained ground, forcing Overhaul to respond instead of staying completely on the offensive.
Decade watched quietly, his expression unchanged, but there was a slight shift in his gaze.
With everything stacked against him, Lemillion was still managing to keep up.
Then something else caught his attention.
One of Overhaul's subordinates, already beaten and barely able to stand, moved from the side and raised a gun. Decade recognized it immediately as a Quirk Erasing Bullet, and he watched as the man aimed it toward Lemillion, then shifted it toward Eri.
The trigger was pulled, and Lemillion saw it.
He understood what it meant the moment it happened, and even then, he didn't hesitate. He stepped forward and placed himself directly in front of Eri, shielding her completely, a small, reassuring smile on his face as if to tell her that everything would be fine.
Decade's expression changed slightly, a faint smile forming as he moved.
He appeared between them in the next instant, right in the path of the bullet. His hand lifted and grasped at the air in front of him, pulling at it as if it were something tangible. The space itself bent under his grip, distorting just enough to alter the trajectory of the bullet and send it off course before it could hit either of them.
Decade lowered his hand slightly, letting the space return to normal, and glanced toward Lemillion.
"Not bad. I have to admit…" he said, his tone calm but carrying a hint of approval. "Lemillion, you really are a hero."