None as Heroic as You
There was this park not far away from Yuuei. It was a big open space that had this little path that ran down the center that sat under a giant canopy of trees. The hills that surrounded the grove were popular places to go have a picnic, and it wasn't rare to see couples just lay on the grass and stare up at the skies.
It also happened to be a conveniently scenic place to go through when out on morning runs. Ochako was training herself outside of class so that she wouldn't fall behind her peers. It was a hero school, after all, and falling behind was one of the worst possible things to do. She started running in the area within the first few days that Yuuei moved to a boarding system, and had gone out at least three times a week since.
What had started as a beautiful, green grove in the summer had changed hues with time, the leaves turning to yellow to orange to red. The grass started to fade, losing its bright green color over time. Eventually, the leaves started to fall off the trees, floating to the ground. Eventually, the entire ground was covered up with dead leaves, many of which had started to rot, leaving the ground a gross brown color instead of the lucious hues of autumn that they'd been before.
The morning started off like any other. Ochako got up out of bed to the blaring sound of her alarm, and got haphazardly dressed in her workout clothes. She grabbed her cheap mp3 player loaded with all of her favorite songs, popped in an earbud, and started stretching. Once she felt like she was ready, she headed downstairs to leave for the run.
Whenever Ochako ran, she tended to space out. Either she'd get herself caught up in the music, or she'd look at random surroundings, or she'd let her mind wander to whatever it felt like worrying needlessly about that day.
Today, it was kind of a mix of all three. She was enjoying her music, letting her feet hit the ground to the rhythm. She also couldn't help but worry about the semantics of how she'd be balancing an internship with all of her other outside training.
She was about halfway through her run when she made it to the grove. It was still early enough that the sun wasn't out, so she had plenty of time to go the long route again. With a huff, she took off down the path.
About halfway through, she noticed a figure in the distance. Squinting her eyes Ochako was able to make out in the darkness that it was a person...holding a long stick? As she got closer, Ochako realized that it was a leaf rake. A young boy, probably about her age, holding a leaf rake, collecting leaves and putting them into neat piles. She didn't think much of it, writing it off as someone just doing their job, and kept running.
That is, she ran until her foot did not land where she expected. It was probably because she couldn't see the ground under the layer of leaves, and she stepped on somewhere where the ground was secretly uneven.
She felt herself lurch forwards, falling towards the ground. Ochako reached forwards to put her hands together to save herself with her quirk, but before she had the chance to, something grabbed her arm, stopping all of her forward momentum and pulling her to a halt.
"Are you okay?" A voice said as Ochako regained her footing. She looked back to see that the boy with the rake had caught her arm, stopping her from falling. Her gaze fell to his hand that was still on his hand, which he quickly removed, a blush creeping to his face.
He had raggedy green hair, and wore basketball shorts with a t shirt, along with simple red sneakers. He was taller than her, but to be fair, that wasn't very difficult. He definitely wasn't as tall as Iida at school. He had a kind of plain face
"Yeah, thanks for the save!" Ochako said, giving him a smile, hoping to dissipate some of the nervous tension that lined the air.
"I-It's no problem!" He said, voice still wavering slightly. Ochako nodded to him, putting her earbuds back in and continuing her workout. As she ran, she couldn't help but think, what is a boy my age doing raking up leaves in a park at five in the morning?
When Ochako ran the next day, the boy was there again, raking up leaves. Then the next day, and the day after that. The boy was there every single morning, slowly making his way through the daunting task of raking up all of the leaves that littered the ground. Not to mention the fact that it was an uphill battle, since more and more leaves were falling each day.
On the fifth day, the boy gave Ochako a simple wave as she passed by him. So, she waved back.
Waving to each other at the ungodly hours of the morning became a routine. Every single day, they'd exchange a smile and a wave, and for some reason, it made Ochako more happy and determined to finish her run. She didn't even know the boy's name yet!
By two weeks in, Ochako started to notice just how little progress the boy was making. The entire path was probably about half of a mile long, and in two weeks, he'd hardly made it up one quarter of that length. Ochako noticed, however, that the part he had gotten through looked, outstanding. Not a single leaf in sight.
The next day, Ochako was running down the path just as usual, and as the boy waved to her, Ochako made a decision. She veered off to the side, approaching the boy. For some reason, as she got closer, he took a couple of steps back, acting like a scared deerling.
"Good morning!" She said between huffs, leaning up against one of the trees. The boy tilted his head before taking a couple of cautious steps forwards, putting on a smile.
"Good...morning?" He said it as a question rather than a statement, "Umm...no offence, but what are you over here for? You usually just run on by."
"Oh, I'm taking a short route today." Ochako lied. She didn't want to tell him that she was curious about what he was doing, as that would probably sound weird and invasive, "I'm just breaking here before I head back."
"Oh, I see." The boy nodded, looking down at his feet and twiddling with the rake in his hands.
"So…" Ochako started after a long period of silence between them, "Not a lot of people are up this early."
The boy just shrugged, not meeting her eyes, "I've never been much of a late riser." He said simply. For some reason, she felt like he was uncomfortable in the situation.
"So, you've been raking up leaves for a while, would it be intrusive to ask why? Is it a job or…?" Ochako was trying to make a conversation happen, but up until this point, the boy hadn't really been responding. Now, his ears perked up and he looked up from where his eyes had been planted on the ground.
He shook his head, "It's not a job, no. I just do it."
Ochako tilted her head, "Why?"
"Because if I don't, then who will?" That answer caught Ochako off guard. She hadn't been expecting such enthusiasm in the response, either.
"I was just looking at statistics online, and apparently three people broke ankles from stepping on the uneven ground because they couldn't see it last year, kind of like how you fell a few weeks ago. Apparently, the section of the local government that deals with maintaining this area hasn't gotten around to it for years." He gestured around him, "So I decided to do my part in helping."
Ochako just looked at him in shock for a moment. Partly because of the sudden explosion of words that had come out of his mouth compared to his so few words before, but also because of what he'd actually said itself.
He sighed, "I'm afraid I'm not really getting through as much as I'd like though."
"I could help." The words came out like an automatic response. She knew she probably shouldn't, considering how much was already on her plate, but for some reason, she was inspired. His reasons for doing this were so...noble. So selfless, how could she not help?
"Eh? No, I couldn't trouble you like that." He shook his head, "You probably just feel bad for me."
Ochako shook her head vigorously, "No, I really do want to help. Your reason for helping is so noble, it inspired me! I want to help you clean up this path!" she said defiantly, puffing her chest out confidently.
The boy looked her up and down, giving her an odd look, before slouching down slightly, looking defeated, "I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?" Ochako just responded with another vigorous head shake.
"I suppose I could bring two rakes tomorrow." the boy relented. Ochako nodded.
"Good, I'll be here!" She looked down at her watch, realizing the time, "Oh, shoot! I'll be late for class! Mister Aizawa is gonna kill me!" she quickly grabbed her water bottle from where it was sitting on the ground, turning to leave.
"Wait!" She heard the boy call after her. Ochako stopped and looked over her shoulder, "I never got your name!"
Ochako smiled, "I'm Uraraka. Uraraka Ochako."
The boy smiled back, "Nice to meet you, Uraraka. I'm Midoriya Izuku."
Ochako got up a little earlier the next day than normal. She rerouted her path she normally took for her morning run so that it ended at the park. That way she could get in the same amount of running and still assist Izuku with the raking. All it meant is that she would have to get up a little earlier every day, but that didn't bother her very much.
As Ochako finished up her run, she started down the path in the middle of the park, and sure enough, Izuku was there, raking up leaves, just like normal. As she got closer, he looked up, seeing her and waving. Ochako slowed her pace as she got closer, pausing her music and putting away her earbuds.
"Good morning, Uraraka!" Izuku greeted cheerfully, "I brought you a rake like you asked." He gestured to the rake that was leaning up against the tree.
Ochako smiled back at him, "Good morning, Midoriya!" She walked over and grabbed the rake, moving to the other side of the path to begin raking up the dead leaves. Silence fell over the area, an awkward tension filling the area. All that could be heard was the sound of leaves crackling and rustling as they were moved around by their tools.
"You don't have to help me if you don't want to, you know…" Izuku muttered after a little while. Ochako instinctively stopped raking for a moment, taking in his words. A couple seconds later, she continued the repetitive movements.
"I want to, it's fine. I can't let you do this all by yourself." Ochako looked over just to see Izuku's lips pursed. They raked for a few more moments in silence, neither saying a word. After a while, Ochako just couldn't take it anymore. She was a talkative person, she couldn't just sit here and not at least try to start a conversation.
"So…" She stated, not looking up from her task, "What high school do you go to? You look like you're about my age."
Izuku didn't say anything immediately, but when he did, it was soft and not confident, "I umm...I don't go to high school."
A dropout? Ochako scanned him up and down, searching for the disconnect, he doesn't look like a dropout, plus, he's too nice!
"Oh." Ochako responded simply. Asking why he didn't go to school was probably delving down a path she didn't have the right to go down.
"Umm...w-what high school do you go to?" Izuku asked. Ochako gulped.
"Oh, I go to Yuuei."
Izuku looked her up and down, blanching. A moment later, something in his composure changed, realization dawning on his face.
"I knew I recognized you from somewhere! You're from the hero course, right? I saw you at the sports festival!" Izuku blurted out. A blush rushed to Ochako's face at the sudden recognition.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you remember me, though. I didn't do much to stand out…" Ochako laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head.
"What are you talking about? How is it possible to forget you? The strategy you came up for fighting against Kac-I mean, Bakugo, was amazing! It seems like a pro's way of thinking!" Izuku rambled off.
Ochako was taken aback. She hadn't expected him to recognize her, much less remember everything about her performance. "I still lost…"
Izuku shook his head this time, "That doesn't matter, you showed that not only could you think on the fly, but that you had the ability to stand in the same arena as the person who went off and won the competition!"
Ochako felt something well up in her chest. This was the first time someone had ever complimented her for her performance like that. It felt...good. Surprisingly so.
"Wow...that's…" Ochako couldn't find the words, "T-thank you."
They made small talk about various things for the rest of the time until Ochako had to head to school for the day. Izuku in particular had questions about what it was like training under All Might.
"Don't forget to bring the rake again tomorrow! I'll be here!" Ochako said as she made her leave.
"I won't!" Izuku said in response. As Ochako walked away, she noticed he looked down at his feet at least a little less often.
Raking in the ungodly hours of the morning became a routine. They'd meet up after Ochako's run and rake for about an hour, making small talk before Ochako headed off to school. The topics varied drastically, everything from Ochako's school work to recent hero activity. Izuku didn't talk much, but when he did, he was passionate about what he was saying.
By a week in, they'd made it exactly halfway through the path, which was something to be proud of. Ochako and Izuku put their rakes down to take a break, using the day as a little celebration of their progress.
"Hey Izuku?" Ochako got his attention, "I know you already said that you're doing this because nobody else will, but why exactly did you decide to undertake this? Did you know somebody that got hurt this way or…?"
Izuku just shook his head, "It's a long story…"
"I have…" Ochako checked her watch, "Half an hour before I have to leave. Do you think you could get it out in that amount of time?"
Izuku just nodded, seemingly collecting his composure. After a moment, he let out a large sigh and began his tale, "About a year ago, I met my personal hero. He was the person I most looked up to, a hero not only to me, but everyone he saved as well. When I met him, I asked him one question, 'can I be a hero?'. He told me no."
Ochako gasped in surprise, what kind of…
"Don't blame him, please." Izuku interrupted her thoughts, "He was only saying what made the most sense with the situation. Quirkless people can't become heroes, is all."
Quirkless… the word echoed in Ochako's mind. He's quirkless. Ochako kept her mouth shut.
It doesn't matter if he's quirkless. That's not the thing a hero should be telling a kid… Ochako realized.
"Do you remember hearing about an incident with a sludge villain capturing a student about a year ago?" Izuku interrupted her thoughts once more. She felt like she should remember it, but for some reason, she couldn't recall any details.
Ochako shook her head, "It sounds familiar but…"
"Essentially, a villain captured a middle school student. None of the heroes in the area had a suitable quirk for the scenario, so they couldn't do anything but watch. When I walked by...my legs moved on their own. I ran in to try to help, but in the end, I did nothing except for make everything worse. When the villain fought back, I was defenceless. If All might hadn't been there…" Izuku shuddered.
Ochako sat in shock, remembering the news clearly now. One boy kidnapped by a villain, only to be stopped by All Might when another boy rushed onto the scene to try to help.
"That day was a reality check for me. My quirklessness had made me useless in the situation, maybe even a burden to the heroes that were there. Someone without a quirk...someone like me, can't be a hero."
Ochako felt her heart sink. He sounded to defeated. She could tell it hurt him so bad to say out loud, to accept the reality. Then, his face. The sheer weight of the sadness reflected in his eyes almost made Ochako want to cry.
"So...so I do what I can. I want to help people in whatever ways I can, even if it's not much. I give extra things I don't need to homeless people, I help get cats out of trees, I rake leaves on a path." Izuku finished.
Ochako sat in stunned silence for a moment. Izuku just looked at her, before his gaze started to fall back towards the ground. Suddenly, Ochako rushed forwards, wrapping him up in a hug. She felt at the verge of tears at his story.
She felt tears soak into her shoulder.
They didn't talk about such deep topics anymore after that time. They continued raking in the mornings, and were getting pretty close to finishing. They talked about much lighter-hearted topics while they raked.
Izuku started to open up more, and Ochako started to learn more about him. She learned that he liked katsudon, that he had a loving, even if a little overbearing mother. She learned that he wanted to start high school and be able to end up doing something with his life, but everything had hit the fan right around the time that entrance exams were and he hadn't had the opportunity to. He was planning on trying to go for the general studies department at Yuuei, seeing if he could figure out a way to skip first year if he studied hard enough.
She also learned that he loved to keep up with the heroic industry. Even if he knew he couldn't be a hero, he still kept these cute little notebooks with information about every top hero and their quirk. It was nerdy but...cute in a way.
Ochako felt herself get closer and closer to Izuku as they talked. Even though they only saw each other for about an hour each morning, he was already one of her closest friends. Granted, she didn't really have many friends outside of Tsuyu at Yuuei anyways, but that didn't make a difference.
She found herself getting sad whenever he was down, and happy when he felt better. She liked how he seemed to care about her as well, saying that he treasured their time together in the morning.
She liked how he was so selfless, always trying to do the best he could, even if nobody was watching. He helped other people far more than he helped himself, and was admirable for it.
"Do you believe in alternate timelines?" He said one morning.
"I've never really thought about it, why?" Ochako didn't really look up from her task. They were nearly to the end of the path now. They'd probably finish tomorrow morning. What happened from there, though, they'd yet to figure out.
Izuku hummed, "If they do exist, do you think there is one out there where I have a quirk? A timeline where I can become a hero? Maybe I have big flaming wings and fire powers. Or maybe one where I can run really fast and punch really hard." Izuku snorted at himself.
Ochako just smiled, "I'm sure there are."
You already are a hero, dummy… she thought on the side.
"Hey Mister Aizawa…" Ochako approached her teacher after class that day. The lazy hero looked up at her, with one eye.
"Yes, what is it?" he said.
Ochako put her pointer fingers together, "I was wondering...when heroes do something really valorous, do they get some sort of award? Kind of like how when people in the army get the medal of honor?"
Aizawa raised an eyebrow, "What's this for?"
"I'm just curious."
Aizawa sighed, "There is something, though I think the last person to get it was All Might a while ago. It's called the Medal of Heroism. Now, is that all?"
Ochako nodded, "Thank you, sir."
Ochako hadn't ever carved something out of wood before. She cut herself with the knife more times than she cared to admit, but she was proud of the final product. A little wooden 'medal' that could be attached to anything from a necklace to a keychain.
Ochako smiled, setting the object down on the table and heading to bed.
Ochako felt extra energetic on her run the next morning. Not only was today the day that they were going to finish raking the path, but it was also the day that she was going to give him her little gift. Her little something to thank him for how much he'd done.
Ochako made it to the park where the path was, and made her way over to the last area that they had to finish raking.
Except, there was nobody there.
Izuku always made it there before her. Every single day, without fail, he'd been there before she had. She was even earlier than normal today.
Maybe he's just running late Ochako thought, sitting down and leaning up against one of the trees that lined the path. She sipped out of her water bottle and waited for him to show up. As more and more time passed, Ochako started to become worried. He surely wouldn't be this late, would he?
Eventually, it was time for Ochako to head to class. With a sigh, she stood up and headed off back towards Yuuei.
Maybe he slept through his alarm Ochako thought.
Ochako fell into a habit of checking the news on her way back to the dorms from class. It was a good way to get up to date with the current happenings, as well as have hero content to talk to Izuku about. Most of the articles were clickbait garbage, but on occasion there was a diamond in the rough.
As Ochako scrolled through, one article title caught her eye. 'Local boy hospitalized after villain attack this morning'. Curious, Ochako opened the link.
And was met with a picture of Izuku's face. Ochako stopped walking, her entire being absorbed by the image on her screen. Quickly scrolling down, she found the bulk of the article.
'This morning, a young boy by the name of Midoriya Izuku was hospitalized after a villain attack in the early morning. Reports from a witness say that the villain was actually trying to rob her, but Midoriya stepped in to try to diffuse the situation. The villain lashed out with their quirk, seriously injuring the boy before fleeing the scene. We await more information.'
Ochako ran.
She got to the hospital in record time, her morning training not going to waste. She frantically ran up to the front desk, looking to the woman behind the counter.
"Good afternoon, how can I help you?" she asked politely.
"I'm here to see Midoriya? First name is Izuku?" She said, trying to keep her composure.
The woman typed into the computer, seemingly bringing up his file, "He's only seeing close friends and family. Are you any of those?"
Ochako nodded, "He's my...he's my best friend." She knew the words to be true the moment they left her mouth. The woman smiled at her.
"Room one-twenty-seven. Down that hall and to the left." she said, pointing. Ochako thanked her and set off at as fast of a walk as she could. When she got to the door and saw the label, her heart dropped.
'Midoriya Izuku - Comatose'
Ochako gulped, cautiously opening the door. Nobody was inside except for Izuku, laying on the bed, soundly asleep. Ochako's heart screamed out, Tears springing to the corners of her eyes. Izuku looked horrible. He had casts lining his entire right side, and the rest of his body was broken and bruised. He was hooked up to at least three different machines.
Ochako sank into a chair next to him, feeling suddenly numb.
"How did this happen?" She felt herself saying. She knew that it was illogical. He couldn't hear her. Yet, she kept talking anyways. She felt the tears on the verge of coming out.
"You didn't deserve this...the nice boy who just wanted to be a hero in his own way. You gave so much of yourself up, and this is how life repays you?"
Ochako cry-laughed, "It really is cruel that way."
Ochako fell on silence, and she felt her eyes start to boil over, tears running lightly down her cheeks.
"I made you something, you know." She muttered, grabbing the medal that she'd made that morning from her pocket, "Whenever a hero does something really selfless, they're given this award. It's called the 'Medal of Heroism', and it's a lot like the Medal of Honor. I know it's bad but…" She took the little wooden piece and put it into Izuku's uninjured hand, closing his palm around it.
"I thought you should have this. As a little 'thank you' for all of the things you did for everyone." She was fully crying now. She didn't let go of Izuku's hand, instead, her grasp around it tightened, and she held onto it like it was going to disappear if she let go.
"You-you…" She choked back a sob, "You better wake up soon so that we can finish raking that path! Please...wake up soon. Please…" She let her head fall onto the bed next to him, tears dripping from her eyes onto the floor.
"Even when you knew it was dangerous...you still acted-no, were a hero. A hero, that's what you are." She was sobbing. How could this all happen so fast? That boy she knew, her friend, the boy she'd started to fall for, why did he have to end up like this? Why?
Tears flowed freely from her face. "I-Izuku," She said, "You know, out of everyone at Yuuei, out of all of the kids in the hero course, I don't think a single one of them could have been as brave as you." She choked out.
Please….wake up. Wake up for me She thought, "Out of all those kids, None of them,"
"None as Heroic as You."
Written for the IzuOcha Discord server Fall themed writing competition