The sun dazzled me.

I blinked, black spots dancing in my vision.

Lying on my back, legs in the air, I came face to face with the humanoid version of the cat of the Cheshire.

His yellow eyes, slit like the pupils of a cat, swept me up and down. His face broke into a huge, sharp-toothed grin.

He watched me as if wondering if he was going to devour me.

- Hmm, looks right.

His smile widened.

- Hello, Touya Todoroki. Would you be so kind as to follow us without any fuss ?

My eyes wandered over the villains standing in a half circle behind him. They had knives, guns, and I think blood even stained the pants of one of them.

Their small group opened up, and a stocky, greasy-haired man stepped among them.

Some moved away from him in disgust, others patted him on the back and sneered. Most were indifferent.

- Did you do it again, Taichi?

- You're a fucking pig

- How old this time? Fourteen? Thirteen ? Less?

The greasy-haired man didn't answer, but he looked proud.

He zipped up his pants.

My eyes dropped.

Far behind them, half hidden behind the tire of a white van, I saw a hand.

A child's hand.

My throat grew as dry as the desert.

- ... If you resist, we'll blow up the bridge and everyone on it.

It took me a few more seconds to realize that the Cheshire Cat was still talking.

The tar was hot on my neck and I felt a sudden retching sensation.

The cat was miming a dive with his two fingers.

- What do you think? Shall we go?

I sat up on my elbows and opened my mouth.

And threw up in his face.

The cat howled in disgust and took a few steps back.

- You son of a bitch!

I heard laughter. Nobody helped him.

I stood up, clutching my wounded arm to my chest, and ran like hell.

The smell of vomit and the sour taste in my mouth made me gag again. I bit my fist to keep from thinking about it.

- Where the hell are you going?

- Get back here or I'll break your knees!

I slalomed between the cars and returned to the last place I'd seen Rei and our family.

Panting, my heart pounding, I scanned the area.

There was no one there but the man with the burned arm, lying face down. He had stopped moving.

My eyes darted from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of a tuft of white hair or a lock of red hair hidden somewhere, waiting for me, ready to protect me-

- He went under the car!

I started running again, jaw clenched, blood pulsing at my temples.

This time, if my vision was blurry, it wasn't from hitting my head too hard.

There was another scream, this time one of hysteria.

- We've got to catch him, the countdown-

- Shit, he's heading for the middle of the bridge! The explosives -

- I fucking know !

I threw myself under a car, tearing the skin off my knees, crawling to get to the other side.

Just then a hand shot out and lifted me by the collar of my shirt.

- Where did you-

I slammed my head against the man's and gave him a head butt. Anticipating what I was about to do, the man stepped back.

In a fit of panic, I sank my teeth into his nose and pulled with all my might.

He screamed and hit me with his free fist.

I could taste his blood in my mouth.

His fist slammed into my ear, knocking me off balance. My vision blurred.

I pulled harder.

He released me and I crashed heavily to the ground.

My arm shot out and I groaned in pain. I forced myself up on wobbly legs.

The man on his knees held his bloody nose in both hands and screamed.

He's attracting the others.

A piece of something was in my mouth.

I spat it out, not daring to look at what it was. Then I ran again.

I passed an empty minibus and looked over my shoulder.

The other men were huddled around the one on the ground, murmuring in low voices.

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Some were watching me run. No one chased me.

I ran across the deserted bridge, the sound of my panting filling my ears.

The sun saturated the cars and windows in orange and red, as if the world was on fire.

I felt like I was moving forward in a dream.

I stumbled and fell again.

Now there was nothing but silence. No one.

I tried to stand up, but I was staggering.

I gave myself a few seconds to catch my breath.

I'm on my own.

I bit the inside of my cheek until it bled and wiped my eyes dry.

I wondered what I was doing, why I was running.

There had to be villains on the other side too, right?

If I kept running, I'd run right into them. But if I stayed in the middle of the bridge, I would take the full force of the bomb.

Maybe the explosives were a bluff. Maybe the...

And then the bridge sprang.

There was a thud, as if a storm had just erupted in the sky.

Cracks spread like cobwebs along the floor, cracking the cement and crumbling the ground.

My eyes widened as I ran for the metal railing.

Behind me, the ground opened up and the van rushed in as if it had been sucked in.

The ground lost its consistency under my shoes, bending toward the hole to become one with it.

A red car in front of me rolled backwards, tires screeching against the ground.

I swerved sharply, a hair's breadth from being hit.

The bridge buckled and began to lean toward the hole.

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to run sideways to the railing I wanted to reach, a line of cars falling backwards and crashing into each other preventing me from reaching it.

Then I heard the sound of shattering glass and clanging metal.

I looked up at the front of the bridge.

A badly parked motorcycle was speeding backwards, hitting car after car, but continuing on towards the hole.

I ran to the left, slaloming between two cars that were also going backwards.

Far above my head, I saw the metal cables on the left side of the bridge give way.

The bridge rumbled, as if trying to resist the pull that was trying to bring it down.

The floor broke horizontally, the part of the bridge I was on bending dangerously toward 90 degrees.

I blinked and saw myself at the bottom of the valley, buried in the middle of a car graveyard.

Terrified, I started running again.

All around me, cars were rolling backwards like falling snow, tires screeching and crosslights on.

I felt like I was running through an unreal world, a world that was doing everything it could to push me backwards and take me down with it.

The bridge continued to bend, the metal groaning.

Metal rods sticking out of the concrete represented the border between life and death, stability and the hole.

If I can-

Just then, the motorcycle slid between two cars, blocking my path.

I didn't even have time to realize what was happening.

The bike reared up and rolled back on one wheel.

The rear wheel collided head-on with my forehead.

My head spun around and I thought my neck was going to snap.

My teeth chattered with a horrible sound and my neck jerked back.

My eyes became a narrow slit.

I saw the sun, high in the sky, lighting up the world as if to blind us all.

The clouds turned gray, then black, but the sun was as white as ever.

I raised my hand to the sky as if to catch the light and take it with me.

Then a shadow, like a supernova, split the skies toward me.

My mouth fell open, but I could not speak.

My eyes closed.

Then two mighty arms wrapped around me.

My fall stopped and the man lifted us into the air.

But my relief was so great that I would have cried if I could have.

He held me tighter and spoke in a low voice, but I couldn't hear him.

But I had no trouble guessing who it was.

After all, there was only one person who smelled like the sun itself.

Enji Todoroki.