A/N : sorry for the late publishing...I passed out writing this part.
***
Ryuu looked down at their joined hands.
"Everyone expects me to be strong. To grieve properly. To say the right things at the memorial."
"The only thing anyone expects is for you to survive this. However that looks."
Yuki squeezed his hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong, despite the way her shoulders were shaking.
"If you need to break down, break down. If you need to be angry, be angry. There's no wrong way to do this, Ryuu."
The light turned green. Yuki released his hand and gripped the wheel again, her movements were slow as she shifted the car's gears.
She steered the car through the final two turns.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Examiner's Office appeared through the grey mist of the rain. It was a massive, concrete structure that seemed to blend into the dull sky.
Yuki pulled into the visitor lot and shifted the car into park. She turned off the engine.
The sudden silence was jarring. No engine hum. No heater fan. Just the sound of heavy rain pelting the metal roof above them.
Neither of them moved to open the door. They sat there, staring at the grey building that held the one thing Ryuu wasn't ready to see.
'He's in there,' Ryuu thought.
His stomach felt like it was twisting into a knot.
"Ready?" Yuki asked.
She wasn't looking at the building. She was looking at him, her eyes searching his face. She waited for his signal, her foot still heavy on the brake even though the car was in park.
"I-i don't...i don't want to see him," Ryuu admitted.
The words felt heavy, like he was forcing them out of a throat that had narrowed to a pinhole.
"I don't want that to be my last memory of him. I don't want to replace what I saw during the collapse with... with whatever is in there."
"I know, Ryuu. I know."
Yuki reached out, her own hands trembling so much she had to clench them into fists on her lap.
"But if we don't do this... if we don't see him one more time... we'll always wonder. Every time someone knocks on the door, or a phone rings, we'll think it's him. We need to know it's really real so we can start to carry it."
She was right...somehow.
The logic was cold, but it was sound. If he didn't look, a part of his brain would keep waiting for a man who wasn't coming back.
"I hate this..." Ryuu said. "Let's go."
He opened his side of the car door, while his mum came out a second later.
The sound of the rain transitioned from a muffled drumbeat to a loud, chaotic roar. They hurried across the asphalt, the cold water soaking through Ryuu's shoulders within seconds.
They pushed through the heavy glass doors.
Inside, the building was sterile. The air was several degrees cooler than it had been in the car.
The white tiles covered the floor, reflecting the harsh glare of the fluorescent tubes humming overhead.
The smell of disinfectant was thick, sharp enough to sting the back of his nose, but it didn't quite cover the heavy, flat scent of the building itself.
A woman in a dark professional suit and a white lab coat stepped away from the reception desk. She held a digital tablet against her chest.
"Mrs. Kazama? I'm Dr. Ishikawa, the chief medical examiner."
Her voice was calm. She looked at Ryuu, her expression neutral but also observant.
"I'll be guiding you through the identification process today."
Ryuu didn't nod. He just watched the doctor's hands. She was wearing blue nitrile gloves. They were clean and bright against the dark fabric of her suit.
'It's happening now,' Ryuu thought. 'There's no going back to the car.'
The corridor was quiet, the only sound the rhythmic squeak of the doctor's rubber soles against the linoleum. Ryuu kept his gaze fixed on the back of Dr. Ishikawa's white coat.
They stopped in front of a heavy door.
Inside, the viewing room was small. It contained a few chairs and a large glass window.
On the other side of the glass, a body lay on a steel table under a white sheet. The room was lit with a harsh, blue-tinted light that made everything look cold.
Ryuu's stomach lurched. He gripped the back of a chair to steady himself.
"I need to prepare you," Dr. Ishikawa said. She stood by the window, her hands clasped in front of her. "The deceased was recovered from the center of a structural collapse. While the body is intact for identification, there is significant trauma. You will see crushing injuries to the facial structure and some thermal burns. If you feel you cannot do this—"
"Just show us," Yuki interrupted.
Her voice was sharp, cutting through the doctor's voice. She was shaking so hard the fabric of her coat rustled, but her eyes were fixed on the sheet that covered the corpse.
Dr. Ishikawa nodded. She pressed a button on a small intercom.
"Begin."
In the adjacent room, a technician stepped forward. He reached for the top of the sheet and pulled it down to the chest.
Ryuu's breath hitched in his throat. He stopped breathing entirely.
The man on the table was Kenji Yamamoto. The blonde hair was still there, but it was matted with grey dust and dried, dark blood that had pooled in the crevices of his skin.
One side of his face was swollen, the bone underneath clearly shifted from the weight of the rubble. A deep, jagged laceration ran from his hairline down to his cheek, the edges of the wound purple and raw.
His skin wasn't just pale; it was whitest at this point.
It wasn't a peaceful image. It was a record of what happens when tons of concrete meet human bone.
"Aaah." Yuki made a high, thin sound in the back of her throat. She didn't cry; she just exhaled a jagged breath that sounded like it was tearing her lungs. She leaned into the glass, her fingers splaying against the cold surface.
"T-that's... him," she whispered. Her voice was flat, stripped of all its previous warmth. "That's Kenji."
Dr. Ishikawa didn't look at the window. She tapped a command into her tablet.
"And you, Mr. Kazama? Can you confirm this is your father?"
Ryuu stared at the grey face. He looked at the way the jaw was slightly misaligned. This was the man who had pulled him into an embrace four days ago. Now, he was just a collection of damaged tissue and broken bones.
'He's gone. He's really just a thing now.'
Ryuu tried to speak, but his vocal cords felt like they had fused together. He couldn't produce a sound. He simply jerked his head in a sharp, stiff nod.
"I need verbal confirmation, please."
"Yes." His voice came out hoarse. "That's Kenji Yamamoto. My father."
Dr. Ishikawa nodded to the technician, who carefully replaced the sheet. The body disappeared from view.
But the image was burned into Ryuu's mind. Would be there every time he closed his eyes for the rest of his life.
"Thank you both," Dr. Ishikawa voice rang out softly in the small room. "I know this was difficult. The death certificate will be processed today. The body will be released to the funeral home the Commission selected for tomorrow's service."
But Yuki didn't answer. The tears were streaming down her face now, dripping off her chin and staining the lapel of her coat.
She opened her mouth to speak, but only a wet, shuddering breath came out.
Dr. Ishikawa opened a side door to a small, private lounge.
"Take all the time you need. There is no rush."
She stepped out and closed the door with a soft click.
Yuki's legs gave way. She dropped into a plastic chair and buried her face in her hands. The sound she made was a raw, rhythmic sobbing that filled the small room.
All the years of her waiting and the last two days of terror had finally collided to create a heart wreathing pain in her chest .
Ryuu sat in the chair next to her. He felt cold. His skin felt like it didn't belong to him. He stared at a scuff mark on the linoleum floor.
"I'm sorry," Yuki gasped. She choked on a sob, her chest heaving. "I'm sorry... I should be strong for you. I should be—"
"Mum...please don't."
Ryuu reached out and put his arm around her. He pulled her closer until her head rested against his shoulder.
"Just... don't."
They sat there while the clock on the wall ticked. Yuki's sobs eventually slowed, turning into heavy, uneven hiccups. She pulled a crumpled tissue from her pocket and wiped at the ruined makeup under her eyes.
"He looked so..." She stopped, her lower lip trembling. She couldn't find a word that wasn't a lie.
"I know."
"Tomorrow, everyone is going to see him in a casket," Yuki said. Her voice was flat and tired. "He'll be cleaned up. Made to look presentable. But that's not... that's not what we just saw."
She looked at him, her eyes bloodshot and swollen.
"What we saw in there. That was the truth."
Ryuu looked at the door. He thought about the center of the explosion. He thought about the weight of the concrete and the heat of the blast.
"He...he wasn't afraid," Ryuu managed to squeeze out.
Yuki paused, her hand frozen mid-air as she wiped her cheek. "How do you know?"
"I felt it. Through my Resonance when I amplified him."
Ryuu's voice cracked, but he kept going.
"Right at the end, when he told me to run. He was determined. He was sad, but he wasn't afraid. He was thinking about us. You and me. That was the last thing I felt before the connection snapped."
Yuki started crying again. It wasn't the loud sobbing from before; it was quite. She leaned her weight into him.
"He loved us so much."
"I know."
They stayed in the room. They didn't talk about the memorial or the Hero Commission or the rain outside. They just sat in the silence of the grey room until Yuki's hands stopped shaking.
Dr. Ishikawa returned with paperwork. The Death certificate. Release forms. And the medical examination that had the summary that describe what Ryuu had just seen with his own eyes.
Yuki signed everything with a shaking hand.
"Is there anything else we can help you with?" Dr. Ishikawa asked. She stood by the door, her hands folded neatly in front of her white coat.
Yuki stood up. Her movements were so stiff.
"No. Thank you for your assistance today."
They walked out of the lounge and through the sterile corridors one last time. The automatic glass doors slid open, letting in a gust of damp, chilled air. The rain had slowed to a fine, grey mist that hung over the parking lot.
They reached the car. Ryuu pulled the passenger door open and sat down. The interior was still cold.
While Yuki started the engine. She didn't put the car in gear immediately. She sat with her hands on the wheel, staring at the concrete wall of the building.
"It's done," she whispered.
Ryuu didn't answer. He looked at the glove box.
Kenji Yamamoto was dead.
The thought sat in the center of his mind. It wasn't a guess anymore. It was a fact documented on a digital tablet in a cold room.
Yuki shifted the car into drive. They moved through the city streets. The drive back to UA was silent. The only sound was the low hum of the tires against the wet asphalt.
Ryuu watched the streetlights flicker past. He felt a deep, physical exhaustion that made his eyelids heavy, but he didn't close them.
The familiar tall gates of UA appeared through the mist. Yuki slowed the car to a stop near the main entrance. She kept the engine running, the vibration traveling through the seats.
"The service is tomorrow at two," Yuki said. She turned toward him, her eyes were still red. "I'll pick you up at noon. We need time to get you ready."
"Okay."
Yuki reached across the console. She pulled him into a tight hug, her arms wrapping around his neck. Ryuu felt the damp fabric of her coat against his cheek, and he smelled the faint scent of her perfume.
"I love you. So much."
Ryuu closed his eyes for a second, returning the squeeze.
"Love you too, Mom."
He pulled away and opened the door. He stepped out onto the wet pavement and watched the car's taillights disappear into the grey haze as she drove away.
He turned toward the dorms.
His legs felt like they were made of lead. Every step required a conscious command from his brain.
Lift. Move. Plant. He walked past the training grounds and the empty common areas. He reached the entrance of the Heights Alliance building.
Then swapped his wet sneakers for his indoor slippers at the locker, his movements were slow and clumsy too.
He headed for the elevator.
'Saturday is tomorrow.'
He pushed the button for his floor. He needed to get back to the room. He needed his door to be closed.
Ding!
The elevator doors slid open. Ryuu walked down the hallway, his indoor slippers silent on the carpet. He reached his door and stood there for a moment, his hand hovering over the handle.
But he pushed it open.
Mina and Momo were both there. Mina was sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs bouncing nervously. While Momo was standing by the window, her arms crossed tightly. They both looked up the second the latch clicked.
"How did it go?" Mina moved first. She stood up and closed the distance before he could even take off his jacket.
"Horrible."