38

Chapter 38

2 years ago...

For what felt like ages, Natsuo and Izuku were playing tag on the beach at the beachside park near their house. While the two brothers were enjoying each other's company, they both kept glancing at the clock every couple of seconds to check if the time was still right. It was already 1:30 p.m., and Fuyumi hadn't arrived yet. They had agreed to meet her in the park because they wanted to go out and play for as long as possible; but neither of the brothers wanted to admit that they had fallen asleep. After spending the last two hours waiting on their younger sister to arrive, they knew they shouldn't give in to fatigue and fall asleep on the sand, so they had decided not to tell their parents about it, and instead planned to sneak out before it was completely dark. Their fathers were in the kitchen cooking dinner, so they would probably notice their absence for a couple of hours, which meant it wouldn't be safe for them to go out until it was nightfall.

Just then, they heard a car coming down the road towards the park from a distance. They immediately dropped the ball they were playing with and ran towards their parents to warn them about the approaching vehicle. As soon as they spotted the black car with tinted windows, their parents' eyes widened in fear.

"Get inside!" one of them yelled while grabbing both Natsuo and Izuku, dragging them toward the living room. "Quickly! Go into the room or downstairs or-"

Before the adults could even finish their sentence, they heard the sound of metal scrapping along concrete from behind them. A figure stepped onto the patio where the front door used to be. It stopped short upon seeing their parents hiding under a blanket on the couch and raised its arms in confusion, before noticing that the window behind them was left open. Without hesitation, the figure charged at the window and swung his arm out, trying to catch the blanket that was fluttering around. He ended up hitting his hand against it, though, and the blanket went flying off of the couch and landed at their feet. Both the parents jumped to their feet and rushed towards the intruder while calling out their children's names to warn them that someone was outside. But none of the three came rushing out of their bedrooms.

"Fuyumi!" the man yelled worriedly. He was wearing a green beanie that covered part of his face, and a pair of glasses covered the bottom half of his face. He grabbed hold of the edge of the blanket before throwing it off him, revealing a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair and piercing green eyes, sitting on the floor. Her legs were folded underneath her as she rested her hands on her knees. As soon as the stranger saw her, he dropped his grip on the blanket and stared at the person in shock. "Neechan?" he gasped, unable to believe his eyes.

A loud crash could be heard coming from upstairs, and soon after, the bedroom doors were thrown open by several people, including their mother, who appeared out of breath. She gasped for air as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Who's here?" she yelled, looking around frantically. Before she could react, someone had pushed past her and ran to the man.

"Nii-san!" the person exclaimed happily. Before either of the family members had time to react to the new arrival, a man ran past them to reach his brother in arms, and both of them collapsed onto the ground. The man buried his face against his brother's chest as the two embraced each other tightly.

"Dad."

"Brother…"

They both cried and sobbed, as their father held onto his son desperately. His arms trembled as he held his eldest child in his arms, afraid he would disappear before he got the chance to say goodbye. Izuku was only four years old, but his father seemed much older than him due to his experience at being a hero. He had seen many things during his career