New Man.

"Night Slash! Night Slash has disappeared into the sky with the terrorist nuclear missile and the weakened Genesis. I don't know what will happen as we can't follow his tracks anymore!" Roxanne Ritchi reported to the camera but her voice was so loud that it seemed like she was shouting at the camera.

Night Slash took Genesis and the missile into the skies and the helicopter could not follow them anymore. The silence that ensued after Night Slash's disappearance was very eery, as the people in Los Angeles stared pensively at the skies, hoping that good would triumph the evil.

And soon,

*BOOM*

The blast happened.

The effects of the blast were not observed by the people of LA but they could clearly see the mushroom cloud forming in the skies of the Pacific Ocean.

Seeing the disaster looming over their heads disappear, the people shouted in joy. While some were in tears, some were hugging a complete stranger next to them, the methods were different to express but the feeling was the same. Joy. Happiness.

Finally, the hectic three days of Genesis' threat over the city of LA ended. The depressing feeling that they were experiencing for the last few days ended.

Good has once again triumphed over evil.

But what was the cost?

Nobody was thinking about that till a small object slammed from the sky like a meteorite right in front of a nuclear shelter. A sound similar to sizzling was coming from the object that dropped from the skies. Intrigued by the object, a few brave ones walked out of the crowd, towards the object.

When they reached closer, they saw that it was something round. It was damaged to a great extent as there were signs of melting and damage on the object, but it was discernable what it was.

A man raised the object from the ground and turned around so could everyone could see what it was. The sound of cheering had stopped when the thing crashed in front of them, but now when they gazed at the object in the man's hand, there was a hint of sadness in their eyes.

Because the cost of defeating evil came right in front of them.

The object that fell in front of them was a broken and damaged helmet.

-------

[Todoroki Abode]

| This... This is the helmet of Night Slash that fell here... | Fuyumi was looking at Roxanne Ritchie's live report on Shido's fight with Genesis with a pensive expression on her face.

She has been watching the screen with the same worried look but the frown on her face kept worsening as time passed. She couldn't keep herself from thinking about the worst and worse kept happening on the screen. She was on the edge when she saw a nuclear missile approaching Shido.

Tears were on the edge of her eyes as humanity's strongest weapon was about to decimate her beloved. But she kept herself together by hoping for something that could save her beloved from this predicament. A miracle.

But the miracle never occurred.

The blast happened and soon the damaged helmet came into the report and when her gaze fell on the helmet, she couldn't stop herself from breaking down and the tears on the edge were finally dripping down her eyes.

"PAPA!"*2

As Fuyumi was about to drown in the sadness of losing her beloved, she heard the shouts of the two little girls from their bedroom. The motherly instinct within her made her move toward the bedroom instead of drowning in her own despair. Holding her own tears back, she ran towards the bedroom.

While she running towards the room, she kept thinking about the damaged helmet and the face that was behind the helmet when the blast happened. The pain that he must've felt when the blast happened. Though the pain within her was rising, she deemed supporting her daughters was much bigger than her own wails.

*BAM!*

Fuyumi swung open the door of the bedroom and was about to rush to her 'daughters,' instead, she froze. She froze because she saw the two girls hugging a man with black hair, clad in a tight combat suit. The girls while embraced in the man's arms were yapping 'Papa!' 'Papa!' repeatedly as they hugged him back.

Fuyumi was shocked. She was doubtful... and had a myriad of other feelings.

Hearing the door being opened, the man turned around, and the face of the man came into her view. And when that happened, the remaining doubts in her mind vanished.

Though the man's black hair and black eyes may have given her some doubts but the gentle smile on his face made her discard those doubts.

How could she not recognize him... as he was her beloved.

Without any second thoughts, Fuyumi rushed to Shido at a speed clearly out of human bounds. Shido was surprised and was about to brace himself for the impact but the impact never happened as Fuyumi hugged Shido and both fell on the bed.

"...Hey," Shido tried to break the silence but in response, he was kissed on the face repeatedly by Fuyumi.

"The kids are here!" Shido protested the amorous acts of Fuyumi, but the lady in question only said, "I don't care about that right now!" and continued to kiss him.

When Shido glanced at his daughters, he saw Eri blocking her own eyes with her hand while also blocking Himiko's eyes with her tiny hand.

He could only sigh and let Fuyumi have her way, as she has gone through a lot in these past few hours.

------

Fifteen minutes later,

After the 'romantic acts' of Fuyumi ended, They settled down and now they huddled together in the bedroom. Shido sitting on the bed with Himiko and Eri on his lap while Fuyumi was sitting in front of him, as they discussed what happened in LA.

"So, you are leaving your vigilante identity behind right?" Fuyumi asked.

"...Yeah," Shido affirmed with a smile as he glanced at Himiko and Er, clearly drowsy but still resisting staying awake, on his lap.

"Really?... I mean, don't you like being a vigilante? Why stop? Now you are a hero registered in the US, right? Why stage your own death?" asked Fuyumi as she was genuinely confused. And her confusion was justified as Shido never revealed about [Laws], Valdis being Genesis, and all the things that happened in the last few days that were not in reach of the general populace.

Shido gently placed Himiko and Eri who now were in the warm embrace of sleep, onto the bed and placed the quilt on them.

"... I guess it's better for the heroes to be the heroes, and the noodle shop owner to be a noodle shop owner," replied Shido with the same gentle smile.

Fuyumi was about to say, 'You didn't answer my question...' but she didn't, because she knew if Shido wanted to answer her, he wouldn't have evaded the question.

"So what are you now? Hero? Vigilante? Noodle shop owner?"

The smile on Shido's face grew wider. He gently held Fuyumi's hand in his own and replied, "A new man... a normal man who runs a noodle shop and loves his family very very much."