Akaya Kaiun shouldn't have looked.
That was her first thought the moment her eyes landed inside the alley.
Three men.
One boy.
Cornered.
It didn't take more than a second to understand what kind of situation this was.
Her mind reacted immediately.
Leave.
Call the police.
Don't get involved.
That was the correct answer.
She didn't have a Quirk. She didn't know how to fight. Even stepping closer would be dangerous, let alone trying to interfere.
But—
her feet didn't move.
Because the boy wasn't fighting back.
He just stood there, pressed into the corner, letting it happen.
And for some reason—
that was harder to watch than anything else.
"…Stop."
The word slipped out before she could stop it.
All three men turned.
The moment their attention landed on her, Kaiun felt it—
pressure.
Heavy. Suffocating.
Up close, it was obvious.
At least two of them were Quirk users.
She swallowed.
Too late to back out now.
"If you don't let him go…"
"…I'll call the police."
Her voice shook.
She hated that.
She had already called before stepping in, but she couldn't say that. If they knew, they might panic—and that would only make things worse.
So all she could do was stall.
The blond one stared at her for a second.
Then he laughed.
"Police?"
He started walking toward her like it was a joke.
"You think that scares me?"
The others laughed too.
Just like that, her bluff collapsed.
They weren't even considering her a threat.
Kaiun's fingers tightened around her bag.
Her instincts screamed at her to run.
But she didn't.
Not yet.
"…Tch."
Thinking wouldn't help.
So she acted.
She swung her bag forward with everything she had.
"Take this!"
It hit.
The zipper burst.
Books and papers scattered everywhere, exploding into the air and breaking their line of sight.
For a moment—
they couldn't see.
Kaiun didn't hesitate.
She rushed forward, nearly tripping over her own steps, and grabbed the boy's wrist.
"Run!"
She pulled.
Hard.
For a split second—
it felt like it might work.
Then—
something moved.
Fast.
A shadow cutting through the falling papers.
Kaiun's eyes widened.
A metal bat.
Coming straight at her.
Her body froze.
Too fast.
Too close.
No time to dodge.
No time to think.
The only thing she could hear—
was the sharp sound of air splitting—
right before it hit.
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