Episode -5 C

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A quiet forest.

Beautiful birdsong… the sound of flowing water and wind blend together, filling even the air with fragrance.

And through this place—

with an overwhelming noise, Poppy is charging forward.

On both sides of Poppy, Leo, Dabi, Ellie, and Eti—who is radiating immense energy—are running alongside at incredible speed.

It is a remarkable sight.

The children show no signs of exhaustion.

Rather, they are smiling widely, clearly enjoying themselves.

Sweat runs down their faces, and their cheeks are flushed red—but they are full of excitement.

The effect of the fruit is far greater than expected, and it lasts for a long time.

Feeling good, Eti tossed three fruits into Poppy’s mouth.

Poppy quickly caught and ate them, and as if refusing to fall behind, continued running even faster.

After some time, giant beasts similar to Poppy began to appear.

But the children paid them no mind and continued running excitedly, as if they already knew their destination.

Behind them, countless beasts were chasing.

The reason the children could head straight to the exact location of the incident was—

because Pai had asked Poppy for directions and requested guidance.

As time passed and they got closer to their destination, the number of violent giant beasts increased.

However, the number of beasts chasing them did not continue increasing indefinitely.

Most of the beasts that had been chasing them became exhausted and could no longer keep up.

Soon, the children saw it—

a massive crater formed by fallen stars.

Many giant beasts had gathered there.

As they approached, the beasts surrounded the children and Poppy, blocking any further advance.

Tension filled the air.

At that moment, the largest beast among them charged toward the children on Poppy’s back in a furious sprint.

Eti immediately threw a fruit to Leo.

Leo caught it, chewed, and swallowed it.

Then Leo collided head-on with the charging beast.

A tremendous crash echoed, followed by the beast’s scream.

The beast was launched high into the air—

then slammed into the ground and lost consciousness.

The surrounding beasts grew even more enraged—

but most of them no longer dared approach Leo.

Eti, quick to notice that the beasts feared approaching, grabbed Leo’s arm and slowly walked toward the crater.

Unable to block Leo’s path, the beasts parted like a sea being split.

The small girl Eti was able to look clearly into the crater.

Inside—

countless beasts, covered in wounds, struggled endlessly, refusing to give up.

They kept trying to climb out—

but failed repeatedly, slipping over and over again.

Most of them appeared to be mothers and their young.

Seeing this, the “queen of insight” Eti had already grasped the situation.

She began explaining:

“Look carefully. The situation is very serious.

Inside the crater, there are mother Poppies and weak baby Poppies.

But the babies don’t have enough strength to climb out of this deep crater.

Even now, they keep getting injured and slipping—but they don’t stop trying.

You can see it, right?”

The children, after hearing her explanation, simply looked at the crater with heavy hearts.

But Rogi, in particular, was deeply affected.

Once again, sorrow overwhelmed her.

Eti continued:

“Look—there’s nothing but filth inside, and no water or food.

So the father Poppies have been carrying food and water in their mouths—

and dropping it into the crater again and again!”

Rogi added, her voice trembling with pain:

“That’s why they became so violent.

They’re completely exhausted, but they can’t stop.

Fatigue… turned them into violent, savage creatures…”

Rogi burst into tears.

Pai quickly embraced her, sharing her sorrow.

Dabi: Then let’s pull them out of the crater!

Leo: Yeah, let’s do it.

As expected, EAT does not intervene in this situation at all.

He simply watches, waiting to see how the children will resolve it.

If he intervened directly, it would be easy to solve—

but EAT has no intention of doing that.

His role is to watch and wait as the children solve the problem themselves.

And he believes that is the right thing to do.

-5 C END