During her life, she had suffered many defeats, more than she could possibly remember at that moment.

Some of them had been harmless, like failing some tests while she was still a student, or being rejected by people who didn't see her as a possible romantic partner. However, there where many others that had marked her forever, and by mere force had moulded her existence into the one of a heroine, one she had been trying to be even at the last moment of her life.

"Midnight!"

The sound of the alias she had chosen came to her like if the one calling for her was afar. However, the despair and pain that tainted the sound could be felt more than what she could feel of her own body, lying motionless on the floor.

"Ah", she thought, recovering her memory and her vision piece by piece. Towering over her she could notice the desperate faces of some of her students at UA, and tears overwhelmed them.

- Midnight! – Was the lament emitted by the aspiring heroes, the youngest of the school and at her charge. She wanted to stand up, to console them, to reach the place where the rest of the heroes kept fighting and needing support. "They are so young", was the thought that crossed her mind while she tried (and failed) to raise her voice. "They shouldn't suffer such a terrible defeat so soon".

While the piercing chant of her name continued, she believed to also listen a new voice who also pronounced her alias. However, even when she was so close to fall into the eternal unconsciousness, she could acknowledge that no one else had arrived… except for the memories that started to flood her mind, those that were from a better and relaxed past, long before she was marked by the first (and greatest) defeat of her life.

"Midnight" was what the memory she kept of Shirakumo was saying, he whom she had loved once she realized she could love someone else that way. In her memories, he was still young and radiant, always smiling softly in a way that reminded of warm and calm days. "Midnight" he also used to say between laughs while both trained together, both of them dreaming to become heroes that could help to make de world a better and safer place.

But when the both of them were alone, she became once more in just "Nemuri", and he was just "Oboro". And she loved how he pronounced her name, so gentle, as if it was something precious.

…Until the day she stopped hearing her name in that sweet voice forever.

If she was honest with herself, that day was the greatest defeat of her life. She didn't even had the chance to be right next to his side the day Shirakumo left the world, as if he were a cloud that doesn't belong on earth.

She barely gained strength to attend the funeral.

"I'm sorry, Nemuri", had said the two friends she still had with voices that weren't his. And they couldn't say more. After all, they had also suffered once they lost that young man who was so bright, and the three of them cried until they lost what seemed to be the tears for all their existence… and they did so together, and on their own.

After that, she put all her thoughts into becoming completely on "Midnight", because she wanted to be strong enough to not lose anyone she loved again. At the same time, she cultivated an extravagant personality that would keep every undesirable suitor away, because she never felt ready to let go the great love of her youthful days, the one she always wanted to keep close to her heart. She knew what was the image the public had of her, but she didn't care: The people who were important to her could see beyond that façade.

And now, it seemed that also her students, so young and full of life, managed to see beyond her exterior.

The weeping of the children and their tears brought her back to the present, and the certainty of her own death couldn't be denied anymore. She barely could feel a bit of warm in one of her hands, the one that was being held with strength and despair by one of the girls she had helped to instruct as a heroine. It seemed that the young girl wanted to keep her anchored to the earth that way.

She wanted to cry, because if she left at that moment she would do so surrounded by love and admiration. But at the same time, that realization made her think in how different the departure of Shirakumo had been. After all, a blow he had received while he was alone was the thing that cut his life short.

But she had no more energy to cry, and not even to keep his heart beating. So she let herself go, keeping in her heart the hope to finally reunite with the person she had been waiting to see once she opened her eyes.

…Unfortunately, the one she had missed so much wouldn't be there, at the other side, to welcome her.