“Driver, sir! Sir! Damn it, how do you open this door…?”
A few passengers who hadn’t been wearing seatbelts had tumbled forward and appeared to be unconscious. Aside from Rion’s family, only about five people were still moving inside the bus.
The passenger who had been sitting closest to the driver—the same one who had shouted at him earlier to drive properly—rushed to check the driver’s condition. Whether he had fainted or worse, the man didn’t respond even when slapped across the cheek, his body limp and lifeless.
The bus was completely overturned. The only way out seemed to be through the windows, but the emergency hammer had vanished—no one could find it. The cracks in the windows were far too narrow, and even those were now facing up toward the sky due to the flipped bus, making escape anything but easy.
Only one person could squeeze through at a time, if that. Everyone who was still conscious was staring at the small gap, holding their breath.
“Mom, it hurts… ngh… hic.”
“Rion, don’t cry. You’re a brave boy, aren’t you? We’ll get out of here soon.”
“There’s blood. And it smells weird… my head hurts.”
Rion sniffled as he spoke. Just as he said, the bus was filled with the heavy stench of gasoline. There was no doubt things were getting dangerous.
“Is everyone okay in there?”
Someone called out to the passengers from outside the bus. It seemed like another driver who had been passing by had noticed the accident and come over.
“The gap’s way too small…”
“There’s a kid in here! He looks like he’s in elementary school! Please, take him first!”
A passenger near the broken window shouted loudly. Since Rion was the only child on board, they were clearly talking about him.
“Ugh, this isn’t good… Just hand me the kid first! Let’s get him out and try widening this gap somehow!”
“Mom, no. Let’s go together. I don’t want to go alone…”
As the passengers reached out for him, Rion, terrified, shook his head violently and clung tightly to his mother’s neck.
“Mom, I don’t want to go by myself…”
“Rion, just go out first and stay with that man for a bit. I’ll be right behind you, okay? The crack’s too small right now. Only you can fit through it.”
“Then I’ll wait, and we can go together. Can you put a bandage on this? You’ve got some in your bag, right?”
Rion whined anxiously, fussing to stay. But his mother had already made up her mind—she had to get Rion out first.
The smell of gasoline and the oppressive heat were growing stronger by the second.
“Rion, your dad and I are adults. Remember what I told you? Adults don’t ask children for help. If an adult ever asks for your help, you should go find another adult and not help them yourself.”
“…Okay.”
“Even if kids can’t help adults, it’s always right for adults to help kids. When you’re as big and strong as Mommy and Daddy, maybe then we’ll ask you for help. But right now, you’re not tall enough to climb out on your own, are you?”
Rion’s mom spoke calmly, though a little faster than usual.
“But I’m not a baby anymore…”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re not a baby. The person who can help should be the one helping someone in need. Grown-ups can get out without your help, but if you can’t get out on your own, then you should go first, right?”
“Yeah. Hand him to me—I’ll lift him up.”
“Mom, no! Mom!”
“Rion, come to Daddy. Now!”
Panicked and wailing, Rion clung to his mother, but was eventually passed into his father’s arms. Fearing even his father would hand him off to someone else, Rion clung to him desperately.
“Dad, no! Let’s go together! You said we’d go to the amusement park! Let’s go out together!”
“That’s right. And to do that, you’ve got to go out first. Once you’re out… we’ll go to the amusement park and eat tonkatsu, your favorite. First, we need to get you out. Okay? Be a good boy.”
“Hand him over here. Kiddo, your mom and dad will be right behind you. Let’s just get you out first, yeah?”
Rion was handed off to a stranger. Thrashing and sobbing, he reached out for his parents, but in the end, he was lifted up by a broad-shouldered man and raised through the broken window. Despite being kicked a few times by Rion’s flailing, the man managed to push the boy out of the bus.
“Strong little guy… He’s gonna grow up to be something big, huh?”
“No! Waaaah… Mom, Dad…”
“Oh no, he’s covered in tears. Come here, sweetheart.”
Someone perched atop the bus took Rion in their arms. Smoke was already starting to rise from the back wheels of the overturned bus.
Even in such a critical, dangerous moment, the driver who had climbed up the bus had done so with only one goal in mind—to rescue the child. And he’d succeeded in pulling Rion to safety.
The man held Rion in his arms and tried to soothe him.
“You’re okay. Your mom and dad will be out soon. Just wait over there for a bit, alright? It’s dangerous here…”
“No! I don’t want to…!”
Once he was outside, Rion finally understood what the awful smell was. He had also noticed the fire near the wheels.
The liquid leaking from under the bus reeked of gasoline.
Rion had learned enough to know what happens when fire and fuel come together.
“There! It’s on fire! My mom and dad are still in there…!”
“Oh God, hold on. Let’s back away for now. You shouldn’t see this…”
The driver, sensing the child would be traumatized by what was coming, turned Rion away from the burning bus and carried him over to his own car.
“This won’t work. We’ll have to throw something to break the front windshield…”
Just then, the man who had been helping others escape jumped down to find something to break open the glass. And just as Rion was being placed inside the car, searching for a way to save the others—
BOOM—!
A deafening blast rang out, accompanied by a surge of searing heat. The driver instinctively shielded the rear window with his body and shouted:
“Don’t look. You can’t see this. Don’t look.”
“Mom… Dad… MOOOM!”
But Rion wasn’t too young to understand. His sobs, mixed with snot and tears, wouldn’t stop.
It had been a drowsy-driving accident caused by the bus driver. The media churned out story after story, blaming overwork and calling it a man-made disaster. But none of that would bring back the dead.
Rion was the only survivor.
When the overturned bus exploded, everyone still inside had perished.
And just like that, Rion became an orphan.
At first, he was just devastated to have lost his parents. He was too young to fully grasp the meaning of death, and all he could feel was helpless anger toward the situation.
He had only one known relative—an aunt—but even she had been out of contact for years. So, Rion was sent to a care facility.
There, he met a kind director and slowly grew up—through middle school and then high school. And along the way, he began to understand something.
Back then, he’d only thought the bus smelled weird and was unusually hot. As a child, he’d just felt vaguely uneasy. But the adults inside that bus must have known exactly what kind of danger they were in.
Of course the adults had been afraid. But not one of them had shown it, worried that they’d scare little Rion. Instead, they’d held him tight, soothed him, and pushed him out to safety.
The man who had climbed the bus to pull Rion out was the same. If his luck had been even slightly worse, he might’ve been caught in the explosion too.
And yet, that man had taken the risk.
Strangers—people who didn’t even know him—had risked everything to help a child too young to understand what was happening. Thanks to their selfless kindness, Rion survived.
After realizing this, Rion made a vow.
That when he became an adult, he would be just like them.
If those people hadn’t acted on their goodwill, he never would’ve made it out.
He wanted to become an adult like them—someone who helped others simply because they could.
“S-rank… This is S-rank. I’ve never seen numbers like these.”
“…You’re saying I’m an Esper? And S-rank… that’s the highest grade, right?”
That’s why, when Rion received his first test results just after his twentieth birthday and learned he was an S-rank Esper, he was shocked—then certain.
This power… it had to be fate.
Just as those people had saved him, now it was his turn.
Just like his mother once said: now he had the power to help others.
