4:03 a.m.The streets near Naruhata.
Fog. Sirens. Footsteps.
The kind that haunt memory more than ears.
Eri clung to Izuku's hoodie as they walked through the mist.No more hiding.
They were already found.
In the distance, a dozen silhouettes formed.
Flashlights. Quirk signatures.
A dozen people who once fought beside him.
Now?
They came for her.
Yaoyorozu stepped forward.Gauntlets glowing.Her voice cracked.
"Midoriya… please. Don't make us do this."
Izuku looked up.
His voice low. Flat.Not angry.
Just—done.
"You shouldn't have come."
Todoroki was next.Frost on one hand. Fire on the other.
"She's dangerous, Izuku. You know it."
Izuku looked at him.Longer.
"You saw what they did to her. What she became. That wasn't her choice."
"She broke time."
"No. They forced her to. And now they want to use her again."
Uraraka stood behind them.
Quiet.
She couldn't even raise her eyes.
Her fingers floated off the ground. Nervous.
"Is… is it true?" she finally asked. "About the clone?"
"Yes."
"Did she… kill her?"
Izuku shook his head.
"She saved her. Even if it didn't look like it."
Iida's voice came next—sharp, formal.
"You're obstructing a Hero Order, Midoriya. Stand down."
"Iida."Izuku stepped forward.Unshaken.
"Do you even hear yourself?"
"This isn't about law anymore. This is about control. About fear."
Iida's face twitched.
He didn't deny it.
Bakugo finally stepped up beside him.
Hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, yeah. We know the speech," he muttered. "Get out of the way."
"Bakugo…" Yaoyorozu whispered.
"You're siding with him?"
"No. I'm siding with the only one who didn't throw a scared little girl into a cage because a principal said so."
The words hit harder than a blast.
Uraraka looked like she'd break.
Todoroki's fire flickered out.
Yaoyorozu dropped her head.
Only Iida remained.
Stiff.
Trapped in duty.
Eri stepped forward.
Tiny feet.
Big shadow.
She faced them all.
"I'm not going back."
Her voice shook.
"But if you try… I'll stop you."
The world tilted.
Her horn sparked.
A ripple through the air.
Not an attack.
Just—
A warning.
"I've seen the loops," she whispered.
"You don't win."
Then—Stain dropped from above.
Blade pressed to Iida's neck.
No blood drawn. Just the threat.
"I'd move," he growled.
"I'm not in the mood to bleed anyone who still calls himself a Hero."
Tension cracked the fog.
No one breathed.
Then—
Todoroki stepped back.
Uraraka turned away.
Yaoyorozu dropped her weapon.
But Iida?
He stayed.
Frozen.
Trapped between order and truth.
Then quietly, finally:
"…I can't do this."
He stepped aside.
And just like that—
Class 1-A let them pass.
Not as traitors.
But as something worse:
Strangers.
Later, at U.A.Nezu reviewed the report.
"They didn't engage?"
Todoroki: "No."
"Did they resist?"
Yaoyorozu: "No."
"Did they choose a side?"
Iida closed his eyes.
And said the only truth that mattered.
"…Yes."
Underground, in a safehouse—
Eri leaned against Izuku.
Her horn dim.
Her voice small.
"Did I do the right thing?"
Izuku didn't answer.
He just held her tighter.
Because he wasn't sure anymore.
End of Chapter 15