Mumen Rider in MHA

A foot slams into his chest. The air leaves his lungs. The street cracks beneath his body. His ribs scream.

The world tilts.

Then resets.

Satoru pushes himself upright, breath ragged, fingers clawing at concrete for balance. One goggle lens shattered, the other caked with soot and blood.

All For One tilts his head, voice hollow and amused.

"Still standing? You're more persistent than I expected."

Satoru doesn't answer. Just wipes the blood from his mouth.

Flashback – A Boy in Smoke

A burning apartment. The ceiling had collapsed. Satoru, barely fifteen, crawls through debris, dragging a crying child out by his arm.

"You're okay," he says through smoke.

"We're almost out."

The boy watches the broadcast now, holding a fire helmet in his lap. Tears slide down his face.

"He saved me," he tells his mom quietly.

"I never even thanked him."

---

Another punch. The world spins. Blood pours from Satoru's nose.

But he stands.

Flashback – The Alleyway

Three men corner an elderly man behind a liquor store. One pulls a knife. Satoru arrives, bike screeching to a halt. No words. Just movement. The muggers scatter.

"You alright, old man?"

"You some kind of pro?"

"No. Just... couldn't look away."

That same man now sits on a shelter cot. His wrinkled hands tremble as he watches the TV.

"He looked like he belonged in the trash," he mutters.

"But damn if he didn't have the soul of a lion."

---

A tendril slashes through Satoru's arm. He cries out, rolls, lands hard—but he grabs a chunk of metal to keep fighting.

One eye nearly shut. But he smiles.

Flashback – The Cat Girl

A tiny girl sobbing over a dying stray. Satoru crouches beside her, softly patting the cat's fur.

"He's gone."

"But you tried to help. That makes you kind."

"Be proud of that."

The girl is older now. At home. Clutching a photo of her and the stray, tears streaming.

"Don't die," she whispers at the screen.

"Please."

---

All For One looks… irritated.

"You gain nothing from this farce. You cannot win. No one will remember you."

Satoru spits blood at the ground.

"They don't have to remember me."

"But I remember them."

---

POV: Sayaka – Hospital Corridor

She's gripping a table so tightly her nails crack. Nurses beg her to sit.

She doesn't.

"Every day I patched him up…"

"Every day I told him he was enough already."

She turns toward the TV.

"But he kept going. Not because he wanted to die—"

"Because he wanted us to live."

---

Flashback – Keiko

She curled on the edge of a rooftop. Satoru sits beside her, silently. Hands her a can of tea. She cries. He never pushes her to speak.

"I wanted to die that day," Keiko whispers to no one.

"But he didn't let me."

She stares at the screen, hands shaking.

---

Kamino – Now

All For One lunges again. The street erupts behind Satoru.

He flies—lands—chokes—rises.

The last piece of his armor breaks off his shoulder.

Still standing.

---

Kana's POV

She tries to scream. Her voice doesn't come.

Her hands claw against the pavement as she crawls. Her legs don't move.

"Stop it," she begs.

"Just stop…"

But he doesn't.

He keeps fighting.

Because he's the wall.

---

Flashback – Miyako

She remembered the boys laughing. Her hands trembling.

Then—

"Hey. Knock it off."

He stood between them and her. Calm. Unmoving.

Later, on the rooftop—

"Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled faintly.

"You didn't have to find me."

"I wanted to."

She'd called him kind. He'd said he was scared too.

Now, she watches him bleed on-screen, her nails digging into her palm.

"You always were an idiot," she whispers.

"But you're my idiot."

---

Back in Kamino, the sky glows like fire.

Satoru sways.

Blood in his mouth.

Every inch of him aches.

His knees buckle.

He falls—

—then pushes up again.

"Not yet," he says to himself.

"Not until they're safe."

---

Flashbacks flicker like lightning behind his eyes. Each one a reason. A face. A story.

They kept him going.

And now, by standing—

He kept them going too.