"Honey, I'm home!" Kotetsu chimed as he opened the door to his apartment in SternBild. It had been his debut day as the rookie for HeroTV and it was a great day. The recording went great, no problems at all and he managed to get a few good points for the start of the new season.

"Geez, you sound like an old man," Tomoe chuckled from the kitchen, walking over to him to greet him with a chaste kiss. "Welcome home, darling."

The young man chuckled as he hugged his wife. "Well, I'm a respected hero now, I guess I can act a little more grown up now, can I not?"

"How was it? Was it good? How many did you save?"

"Oh, I saved enough to be first in place for now," Kotetsu boasted, loosening his tie and set his hat onto the counter. "Plus I managed to make a spectacular arrest and all of that on my first day! Am I great or what?"

Tomoe chuckled in return, moving over to hug him again.

"You are the greatest... you're my hero!" She kissed him softly. "I have something to tell you as well..."

"Oh right! You wanted to go to the doctor's today. How did it go?"

"Mhm... It went great," his wife replied and took his hand on her stomach. "There's a little tiger cub growing inside of me."

"...Isn't that dangerous?" Kotetsu asked, in all seriousness before what she had said had sunk in. "And isn't that kind of dangerous... OH!!!! Congratulations!"

He cheered and hugged her tight, lifted her off the ground and carried her through the living room. "We're getting a child, we're getting a little you or me!"

(1)

"I'm sorry! I didn't get your texts! Damn, I'm pretty sure you won't get this, so I texted mom I'm coming right now! Damn, why did this have to take so long? Anyways, no criminal will stop me from being with my wife when she gives birth to our first child! No matter if somebody's gonna drop an atomic bomb on SternBild or something! I'm coming, Tomoe, I'm coming!" Kotetsu hangs up and then runs faster, using his Hundred Powers to leap just to get to the hospital in time.

(2)

He knew that dialing this number was futile, but he just had to. He knew nobody would pick up, but he was going to break if he didn't do it. He dialled his one and only number on speed dial and waited. Waited for the beeps to end and-

"Hi! This is Tomoe Kaburagi! I'm sorry I can't answer you right now because I don't know where my phone is, but please leave a message after the beep! Thank you!"

Kotetsu bit his lip. He knew exactly when she had recorded this, right when she had gotten her new cellphone. It matched his; they had partner contracts. The other end of the line was eerily silent, as if it was waiting for him to say something. As if it reflected the fact that his wife would never ever be able to talk to him again.

He opened his mouth to say something, to fill the void that she had left with his voice, but he couldn't say anything. Instead, he started to sob, one hand covering his face as the tears started falling, finally, because he hadn't been able to show his sadness in front of the doctors. Back then, he had managed to do everything calmly, mechanically, because he had just been so drained of every emotion, but, hearing his wife's happy voice on her voicemail message as if she was still alive did the trick and he broke down, crying.

Alone.

Because that's what he was going to be.

For the rest of his life.