The Ocean Hero | My Hero Academia

↳ prologue

"I can't believe I lost to a girl who was shorter than me! I worked so hard practising my strokes just to lose in the final round." The small girl sighed in disappointment.

"Don't worry, Umiko. You did wonderfully, we're proud of you even if you didn't win. Next season, I know you'll try even harder and win," her mother responded.

"How can you know that? I'll probably lose the next one too."

"We know because you're our little water baby, swimming has always been your thing," her father interjected.

"I told you to stop calling me that, it's embarrassing!" But she smiled nonetheless.

As they walked down the silent street in the night, she fiddled with the silver medal that she had won. It was both a symbol of her loss and a symbol of hope. She would try even harder next time, and the time after that too, until she won. Swimming was her passion, it always had been. She wasn't going to give up over one loss.

Just as she took another step, her foot collided with a small stone on the ground, and she felt herself lurching forward as she tripped over. To cushion her fall, her hands reached out, but she involuntarily threw her medal to the side and it rolled into the alleyway that they had been walking past. It rattled on the ground for a few seconds before quickly stopping.

"I'm okay!" She sprung back up and ran to the entrance of the alleyway. As she leaned over to pick it up, she was met by a pair of malicious, red eyes. Her eyes widened in fear, and she took a step backwards. The stranger grinned eerily.

"Oh? What do we have here?"

At this point, she knew she was in trouble. But she had no idea what to do.

"D-dad?"

༺♡༻

Everything felt like a blur. She was terrified. The heroes had arrived but the fear and horror still pulsed through her. The tears in her eyes fogged her vision, and she couldn't make out anything around her. Her thoughts were only focused on one thing. 

A woman was trying to talk to her, but she could only hear her heart pounding in her ears. She was gripping her mother's hand tightly, the blood around her soaking into her clothes. How could this have happened? Her father had already been picked up in a stretcher by strange men, but she couldn't let them take her mother.

"Miss, please, you need to let go of your mother so that we can take her to the hospital. We're here to help you."

"Please don't take her away from me! I don't want her to die, please. She can't leave me alone!" she whimpered.

"I understand, but we'll do our best to help her."

So the girl let go of her mother's hand, and she was rushed away. Sitting there quietly, her body shivered, but she wasn't cold. She was all alone. Everyone was gone, the heroes weren't helping her. Why was no one helping her? Where did everybody go? As quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

...

"Why did you leave me all alone?"