The final school bell rings, but my feet already know where they're going. Not home - never home, not first. My backpack feels heavier than usual, or maybe it's just the weight of the day pressing down on my shoulders. The white noise in my head has grown louder since this morning, a constant hissing like waves against rocks that only subsides when I'm... there.

I try to resist. Turn right toward home like I should. But my body won't cooperate. Muscles move on their own, steering me left toward the beach, toward the garbage piles, toward the water that calls to me in a voice only I can hear.

"Creep," someone mutters behind me. I ignore them. These days, their insults barely register against the roar in my head.

The beach comes into view, the massive garbage piles rising like modern art installations against the gray sky. My chest feels lighter as I approach, the white noise organizing itself into something like a rhythm, like breathing. In and out, like the tides.

I climb, hands finding familiar holds on broken appliances and discarded furniture. The climb used to terrify me, but now it's as natural as breathing. Each step brings me closer to the water, closer to the silence that waits on the other side of the garbage wall.

By the time I reach the shore, the waves are already lapping at my shoes. The water is unnaturally cold, even for early spring, but I don't feel it. I never do anymore.

My head starts to clear, the white noise fading as the ocean does its work, washing through my mind and carrying away my thoughts. It's almost peaceful, this emptiness. No worries about school, no memories of Kacchan's explosions, no dreams of being a hero that will never come true.

Just the waves, and the endless expanse of dark water stretching out before me. Just the tide slowly, inevitably, rising around my ankles, then my calves...

A sound breaks through the tranquility - footsteps on sand, rapid and approaching. I turn, annoyed at the interruption, and find myself face-to-face with Kacchan, his expression a volatile mix of anger and something else I can't identify.

"Deku!" he shouts, hands already sparking with tiny explosions. "What the hell are you doing?"

The water is up to my knees now. My head is almost completely quiet, the waves having washed away everything else.