Ochako's nights became no less haunted after confronting her hero. The same events played out in her dreams, over and over again like a broken film reel.
Deku, fighting Overhaul with all of his fury. Nighteye, telling her not to interfere, dying in her arms. Deku, defeating the villain with a powerful punch. Nighteye, coughing up blood. Deku, collapsing onto the ground, screeching in pain. Deku, burning to a crisp or otherwise killed by the surge of his own power. Nighteye losing the last fragments of his life behind her.
The only difference is she no longer did anything to influence what happened around her. She understood it was fruitless.
When Deku defeated Overhaul, she didn't leap into action. When he called out for help, she didn't move. When he was consumed by his power, she didn't cry.
She would reach a hand out...and then pull it back.
For there was nothing more she could do.
The walls between Ochako and Deku had become colossal. At this point, she made a very conscious effort to keep them that way, to try to protect her turmoil-ravaged heart from his zeal. No amount of decrees of "plus ultra" were going to get through this barrier, not this time.
In class, she would keep her eyes away from him. After school, she would rush off to do individual exercises before anyone could confront her. In the dorms, she would only go to the common areas at times she knew Deku wouldn't be there.
She tried to tell herself it wasn't weird that she knew his schedules.
With a renewed and furious vigor, she threw herself into her training. Her free time was spent furiously developing muscle, running around the campus, or pumping weights at the gym. She was desperate to improve and improve both her endurance and her ability to withstand the bumps and bruises of hero work.
But it all started to take a toll on her. Her nights were sleepless. Her days were restless. She started dozing off in math class. She found herself struggling to maintain as much control of her quirk during heroics.
"You look like the living dead," Tsuyu told her frankly one day before class.
"Thank you for the observation," Ochako grumbled humorlessly from her desk. She had seen the dark, heavy rings around her eyes in the mirror that morning. She decided that today, she did not care.
"When are you going to patch things up with Midoriya?" Mina inquired, leaning in over Ochako. The pink girl had asked that question every day since the pair's confrontation. It was getting to be annoying.
"I don't know," Ochako replied honestly. Eyes dropping and head feeling light, she buried her head in her folded elbows and sighed. She wished she could find it in herself to move past what had happened. But she couldn't.
"You know you should really…" Mina began but stopped herself. Ochako could tell Tsuyu had probably motioned for Mina to cut it out. Ochako was thankful for that.
"I appreciate your concern," Ochako said while turning her head to look over at Mina. For once, the pink girl looked unsure of herself. "But I'm fine. Well, not fine, but I'm dealing with it."
It almost physically hurt, but Ochako managed to put on a smile. She had to fool them. "I'll get through this."
Mina did not look convinced but Aizawa mercifully trudged into the room, sparing Ochako from further well-meaning prodding.
Ochako lifted up her head and opened up her notebook. Dutifully, she wrote while much of her mind drifted into an expansive emptiness.
She would be fine. She didn't need help. She...she didn't need to see Deku, not really. It would likely make things worse if anything.
Ochako took a chance and glanced up at him, while there was no way he would be looking back at her. He was there, diligently writing in his notebook while lifting a dumbbell with his free hand. Staying true to the work ethic that would lead him to become the world's greatest hero.
She set her mouth in a grim line and buried her face into the paper.
The dead of night had fallen. Once more, she found herself splashing her face with freezing water while staring in front of the mirror.
There was a little girl there, crying her darkened eyes out because she had another bad dream. She wanted to go back home. She wanted to see her daddy and mommy. She called them every day but she couldn't let them know this was happening. They had too much else to worry about.
She couldn't find a hero reflected in the glass. Sighing, she turned off the faucet again.
She narrowly resisted the urge to smash the mirror with her fist. But she was stronger than that.
Ochako calmly trudged out of the room to face her nightmares once more.
It was an ordinary, busy day in the city. The sun was shining brightly and people milled about going about their shopping and various errands.
Ochako found herself batter by the throngs of the crowd as she braved the mass of people to get some shopping done. It was a good distraction from all the chaos of school. She could focus on putting one step in another, navigating through the city and on what she needed to get next. For once, the casual bumps and the cacophony of noise were actually something she enjoyed.
But one sound started to pierce through the air. One that made Ochako pause and instinctively look towards the busy streets in search of its source.
It was the sound of sirens.
The cause made itself known before she could take her next breath. Sprinting quickly out of side street ahead of her came a gargantuan, brute of a man smashing his way through the middle of a road. He must have been at least ten feet tall, towering over everything in his path. His legs, adorned only with a massive pair of shorts, were as big as tree trunks, easily smashing all the stopping cars that bumped into his path. Veins and muscles protruded from his skin to an almost comical degree, barely containing the might within the beast.
"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" the man roared in a deep, booming voice that sent screams throughout the crowd. Ochako felt the ground beneath her feet shake from the thundering footsteps of the villain.
She wasn't sure what compelled her to move in that moment. Her mind flashed briefly to the crosswalks she knew were behind her, that the man was almost certainly going to trample. Those people could get hurt. She couldn't let that happen.
Without another thought, Ochako leapt out of the crowd and onto the street just as the giant was running past her. With all of her strength, Ochako jumped off the ground, reaching a hand out to tag the man. She barely managed to touch the skin of his elbow thanks to his massive size. But the force of his momentum punching through the air pushed her off-balance, causing her to faceplant hard into the pavement.
Feeling the familiar strain of her quirk, Ochako bounced back up, ignoring the bloody nose she now sported. She brought her hands together as she focused on keeping the man weightless. She looked up to catch a glimpse of the brute, now flailing helplessly in the air as all his momentum went to nothing.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the man roared again, throwing his limbs in every way as he slowly started to ascend.
"Breathe…" Ochako reminded herself aloud as she strained to keep up her quirk. This guy was heavy, depleting her energy much faster than even the boulders she wielded in class. Her stomach grumbled and her muscles burned as she struggled to keep him airborne. But she wasn't going to stop until help came. People would get hurt if she did.
Fortunately, the police and professional heroes arrived soon after to subdue the helpless villain.
With a deep breath, Ochako was able to release the giant, who was quickly grappled by a couple of pros with strength quirks. She immediately puked her breakfast out onto the edge of the sidewalk. She groaning mournfully as her stomach raged inside of her before being onset by emergency responders.
Everything after that point went by in a blur. She carefully worked with a couple of heroes to ensure the villain was safely contained. An ambulance came by with a stretcher to deal with any injuries she sustained, but she waved them off after they had bandaged up her nose rather uncomfortably. The police officers asked her a few questions but mercifully didn't feel a need to take her anywhere.
And everyone she interacted with thanked her or complimented her for her bravery. Indeed, the crowd roared with applause from behind a wide police quarantine after the villain was completely subdued, to which she was thankful she could hide behind some of the emergency vehicles. What she did wasn't really all that difficult; she was hardly worthy of praise. Not when she compared herself against what he...what a lot of her classmates were able to do.
But before Ochako could leave the quarantine, she felt a small tug on the back of her arm. She turned to be met with someone who looked far too much like Izuku, were he a middle-aged woman.
"Are you...are you Uraraka?" the woman asked softly, presenting a shaky smile. Ochako observed a bandage on the side of the lady's head, figuring that she must have been somehow injured in the attack.
"Yes..sorry, do I know-"
"I'm Izuku's mother," Inko interrupted her eagerly, grabbing onto Ochako's hand and shaking it with enthusiasm. "It's so good to meet you. Thank you so, so much. You saved my life."
"Uhh...what?" Ochako responded blankly, eyes wide as she tried to process the rush of information being thrust upon her by this woman.
"I fell on the crosswalk from the shaking ground," Inko said, pointing to wound on her head. "I would have been trampled if you hadn't leapt in there! Oh, I can't believe I'm meeting you this way. I don't know how I can repay you!"
"Please...it was nothing," Ochako replied, scratching the back of her head nervously. She had never dealt with something like this before. She wasn't sure how to handle this kind of praise from anyone, let alone Deku's mother.
"Nothing? You leapt right into his warpath! You're a real hero," Inko praised, beaming at her.
A real hero. The words flashed brightly through Ochako's mind before being submerged in shadow. She felt her face fall as she averted her eyes from the kind woman.
"I'm...I'm really not. But you're welcome."
There was a brief pause between them as Ochako disentangled her hand and prepared to walk away, wanting nothing more than to escape the situation.
"Please, come over to my place and let me make you something to eat," Inko pleaded, folding her hands in front of herself and looking up at Ochako with soft eyes.
"I...I really shouldn't…" Ochako tried to say, before a comically loud groan sounded from her stomach. Using her quirk made her hungry and she had been on her way to grab lunch before the villain appeared. Still, to impose on Deku's mother…
"Your stomach says otherwise," Inko teased, smiling up at the girl. Ochako reluctantly turned her gaze to stare into the woman's eyes. A familiar flash of shining green was held within them.
She gulped and found herself unable to say no.
The aroma of homemade cooking wafted through the modest apartment that the Midoriya family called home. Despite being on edge, Ochako felt a sense of enchantment and nostalgia from the smell. It reminded her of her own mother's cooking. She missed it.
But she still found herself drumming the sides of her fingers nervously on the dining table as Inko busied herself with cooking. Her eyes were bombarded with pictures of Deku everywhere. Deku looking awkward in a middle school uniform. Deku in his hero costume, beaming at the camera. Tiny child Deku dressed up in an All Might hoodie and gosh if he wasn't so darned cute as a kid she wanted to protect that smile-
She squeaked at her own rambling thoughts and covered her mouth, feeling her face heat up. Her mind was in disarray and she committed then to not looking at any more pictures of Deku. Tempting as they were, she focused on a blank spot on the wall instead. She was messed up enough about him as it is without acknowledging the warm feelings his smile could bring her.
Idly, Ochako wondered whether those pictures were always there or whether they might be a more recent addition since Deku moved from the dorms. She recalled her first day back home with her parents after moving to the city. After all of the tearful hugs, she was surprised to see a lot of the walls were now covered with pictures of her face. It got a little bit unsettling but she couldn't begrudge her parents for missing her. Especially not when her own desk had a couple of pictures of them.
Ochako glanced over at Inko, who busied herself chopping vegetables with a practised ease while wearing a gentle smile. Without a second thought, the woman had invited her into her home and started cooking a meal, insisting that Ochako not help. Beyond just her similar appearance, she had a kind and gentle spirit that reminded her a lot of Deku. It seemed easy to tell how Deku became the sweet boy he was today.
"So, how has my son been doing lately?" Inko broke the silence as she casually threw the vegetables into a boiling pot, snapping Ochako back into attention.
"Oh, he's...he's good," Ochako managed, unable to come up with a better description when put on the spot. "He's...he's easily the top student in class, if you ask me." She got that out with more of the bubbliness she was known for, hoping that it was convincing enough to keep the conversation surface-level.
"That's nice to hear," Inko said brightly, turning to flash Ochako a smile. The girl's lip quivered slightly in her answering grin.
"I was just wondering if..." Inko trailed off as she went back to her cooking, tone dropping its brightness. "I saw him pop up on the news the other day. He called me and told me he's fine but...I need to know. Is he getting hurt as much?"
Immediately, Ochako's nightmares bubbled to the forefront of her mind. The agonized shouts the blood everywhere, Deku screaming with his mangled limbs. Those mixed with the images of the real fight, where Deku had gotten hurt...but wasn't too worse for wear by the end of it.
"He's...it's...sometimes," Ochako mumbled, unsure of how to answer. "He does get hurt quite a bit. It's...kind of part of the job, I guess. And that quirk of is is really something but it does injure him a lot. He's getting better with that part of it though!"
She tried to sound cheery in her rambling but found it increasingly difficult to do so under the weight of her last conversation with Deku. She successfully fumbled through the half-truths but it made her feel a little guilty, considering how nice Inko was.
The older woman sighed mournfully. "That's...that's good, I suppose. I just get worried sometimes," Inko replied. "After watching the sports festival, I'm always scared he's hurting himself, pushing everything too hard."
"He's...very driven," Ochako noted, contemplating the woman before her. Deku's heroic zeal had certainly frightened her, too. She could only imagine how it must feel for Deku's mother, watching her son get battered as a hero over and over again. "I get worried about him too. If you don't mind me asking...how do you deal with it?"
There was a moment of silence in which Ochako was left starting at the back of Inko's head. The older woman slowly reached over the hot stove top and around a pot of boiling water to shut off the machine.
"I'm sorry if that was-" Ochako began, trying to correct the misstep.
"..It's fine," Inko interjected, voice turned fragile by the conversation. "It's a...fair question. The truth is...I don't really deal with it."
Silence permeated the room once more. The tension was thick in the air and Ochako felt more than a little anxious by the direction of this conversation.
Her curiosity got the better of her, though. "What...what do you mean?"
The next pause was longer. Inko kept her back turned and Ochako was left waiting, consumed by nervous energy.
"I'm sorry, it's...it's nothing," Inko said, turning around to give Ochako a smile. The young student could tell how false it was. She had seen it on her own face enough times in the mirror to know.
"I'm just being silly. Sorry to bother you with it," Inko continued, reaching back to turn the heat for her stovetop back on.
Ochako could see how eager Inko was to escape the conversation. Much like herself, there were probably some things the woman didn't want to face about her feelings. She could certainly empathize with that.
She decided to respect those wishes and dropped the subject. It would be hypocritical of her not to.
Another awkward silence formed between them.
Ochako found herself looking around the room again as Inko resumed cooking, no longer as comfortable looking at the older woman. Despite her best efforts, her eyes wandered back to the image of a young Deku, beaming out to the camera without a care in the world. It was so unlike the Deku she knew these days, who always seemed to be concentrating on something she couldn't see.
Wanting to strike up some sort of casual dialogue, Ochako seized upon a thought for what should be a safe subject.
"If you don't mind me asking...what was Deku like growing up?"
Inko perked up a bit at the topic, her back springing upright and her voice taking on the same positive energy as when they met earlier.
"Oh, Deku was nothing short of a little angel," Inko gushed, her love for her son coming through every word. "He was really into All Might and superheroes, as I'm sure you know. But he took that and tried to be a hero everywhere he went."
Inko slowed for a moment while she stirred something. Ochako leaned in, hanging on the mother's every word. It was strangely fascinating to get an idea of what the kid Deku might have been like.
"He was always eager to help me out with the chores or cheer me up after I told him he was my hero," Inko continued, her voice taking on a softer, gentler warmth than before. "He hardly ever made a fuss about things and I would always find him playing so nicely with other kids.
"That's so sweet," Ochako sighed, a fuzzy kind of happiness filling her as she pictured it. That was Deku, alright. Even when he was a kid, always wanting to help others and be kind to everyone around him.
"But he...well, those parts of him never really changed," Inko continued, voice losing some of its brightness. "Things got hard after we found out he was quirkless though."
Ochako's perked her eyebrows up a bit at that. Izuku had briefly mentioned that he had developed his quirk late, but he was very quiet on what living as quirkless during his childhood was like. It was something she had always been curious about.
"He got bullied a lot," Inko went on without more prodding, which Ochako was thankful for. "His friends all left him. But despite all that, he still wanted to be like All Might. He still wanted to be a hero. He was...stubborn."
Ochako was enraptured by her hero's history. This...this was fascinating. How could Deku had been so determined, even back then? She couldn't imagine how she would have fared hanging onto her dream of being a hero without a quirk.
"I can remember how depressed he was back when he found out. How depressed I was," Inko's train of thoughts was unrelenting. Ochako wondered if Inko was even really considering her, at this point. "I...I said the wrong thing. And I never encouraged him to be a hero after that."
The older woman sighed, turning the stove off again. Ochako wasn't sure if Inko had actually been working on the food through her speech. The older woman finally turned around, revealing a couple of tears staining her cheeks. Ochako moved back deeply into her chair in alarm, watched on in concern as the older woman collapsed into the seat across from her, hands folding neatly on her lap.
"I'm sorry, I just...I'm a little...need a moment," Inko spoke brokenly, keeping her eyes squared down the lap. "It's hard talking about this, after all that's happened. I...don't have a lot of people to talk to about this kind of thing and I guess I just got a little lost. Maybe my head is a little messed up from the blow earlier."
"No, no, it's fine," Ochako assured quickly, waving a hand haphazardly, not wanting to cause the kind woman any more grief. "I'm sorry if my questions are bothering you. It's just...well, Deku is a good friend. I'm interested in hearing about him."
Inko managed a smile the girl's reply "I'm glad he's found friends like you, dear. It means a lot to know that he has people at school that care about him."
Ochako's cheeks got a little warm but she kept herself composed. It wasn't a comment that had to imply anything romantic. "He's my best friend. And he has plenty of other friends at school now, too. Deku is someone I...a lot of people look up to."
Ochako looked up and noticed Inko's eyes staring intensely at her, a...knowing?...smile appearing on the woman's face. The heat around her cheeks grew. She was prepared to protest another accusation of deeper feelings, but Inko did not seem intent to do that.
"I'm glad," Inko replied simply. "He's...he's special. When he was a little boy, I didn't just call him my hero because it's what he wanted to be. I really meant it. I'm...I'm not sure I could have gotten through a lot of things if it wasn't for him."
Ochako's heartstrings tugged as a thoughtful look appeared on Inko's face. In that moment, she felt a strong chord of kinship with the woman. Averting her eyes, Ochako couldn't help but let a bit of her heart escape from her mouth:
"He's my hero too," she stated quietly.
Inko's eyes widened as the two met each other's stares full-on, green clashing against brown. The two wore identical smiles, forlorn with the heartache they realized they both shared. They might not know each other well but they shared a bond in how they cared for the aspiring symbol of peace.
"What happened after you found out he was quirkless?" Ochako asked earnestly, feeling gradually more comfortable around Deku's mother. "I want to hear more. If...if you don't mind, that is."
Inko raised her hand slightly in a reassuring gesture, shaking her head. "Not at all. I think...maybe this is good for me," Inko muttered, before taking a deep breath to gather herself. "I...well...I guess I tried to encourage him to do other things. Something simple, like a baker or a teacher. I knew he probably couldn't make it as a hero without a quirk. I...I was scared of what might happen to him if he tried."
Inko looked out at one of the pictures and Ochako followed her gaze to see Izuku, looking to be in early adolescence, grinning while holding up a plastic box with an All Might figure contained inside.
"But no matter what I tried, he never stopped wanting to be a hero. He never stopped wanting to be like All Might," Inko sighed. "I couldn't begrudge his hobby, not after what happened. I thought eventually he'd grow out of it."
Ochako leaned in, nodding along as Inko recounted the story of Deku unabashedly. Her mind worked rapidly as she considered how his upbringing had informed who he was today. Maybe if she could understand it, find a connection...maybe she could see how he did the things that she couldn't.
"But he never did," Inko continued. "No matter what I or any of his teachers or bullies said, he never gave up on that dream of being a hero."
Ochako couldn't help but smile at that. "He's the most determined person I know."
Inko nodded. "But then he finally got that quirk and he's been able to fulfil that dream. And I promised I would support him, to make up for how...how I said the wrong thing before..how I failed him..." the mother sniffled a bit in remembrance, another tear coming down from her.
"For what it's worth, I don't think you failed him." Ochako tried to be comforting, although her voice wavered in her unassuredness. "You were trying to look out for him but...you still let him explore what he was passionate about. I think you did alright. And he turned out to be a great guy, right? That's because of you."
"You're so sweet," Inko said between sniffles, rubbing her right eye to dry her tears. "I can see why Izuku likes you so much. Thank you."
"Umm...don't mention it…" Ochako replied. Once more, she was feeling a little flustered, this time by the swell in her heart at the words "Izuku likes you so much." But she reigned those feelings inside like she always did. She had to.
"It's...still difficult now," Inko sighed, leaving her seat and moving back to resume cooking. "Seeing Izuku get hurt all the time. A part of me still wishes he wasn't trying to be a superhero, even if he has a quirk now. Honestly I...a part of me still wants to try to stop him."
The confession surprised Ochako. "Why?" she asked. Her mind flashed back to the images of her nightmares and felt a familiar sense of dread. She suspected she already knew the answer.
"He gets into so much danger now. I want to believe he can handle it but...a mother still worries," Inko explained. "I've seen him get hurt so much since he started at U.A. It hurts me too."
That pain was all too familiar. Ochako's hands tensed as she was again reminded of those cursed dreams, with Izuku in agony while she was helpless to do anything. She gulped as she tried to banish the shadows lingering in her thoughts, focusing instead on the woman and the conversation in front of her.
"I know what you mean," Ochako muttered quietly. "I feel that way too, sometimes."
Inko regarded the girl with a smile before getting back up to resume work on the meal. Ochako's stomach gave another small rumble at the prospect of a hot meal.
"Why…" Ochako paused, having to work up the courage to ask about what was still eating at her. "I guess I want to know. Why did you decide to let him go to school, despite that?"
A small laugh escaped Inko's lips, ringing strangely through the air after they spent so long mired in difficult, upsetting conversation.
"I almost pulled him out. But after everything, I came to realize I can't really stop him, I suppose." A strange, forlorn fondness permeated the mother's voice. "No matter what, Izuku's always going to try to be a hero. Like All Might. I wish he wouldn't but...I know now I have to support that dream. It's who he is."
Ochako felt her heart quiver at the proud declaration. She struggled to keep herself together as she thought about the boy she looked up too; trying so hard, charging at every obstacle, nearly dying in a battle with Overhaul. She knew too there was no stopping him, not for anything. Even if it eventually killed him.
In the fragments of his past, she could see how he had become so determined and unflinching in the face of danger. He had been through so much...much more than she herself had.
She couldn't possibly compare.
"But you know, it is reassuring to know people like you and All Might are there, looking out for him," Inko said. Ochako could hear the smile in her voice. "I know it's not really my place to ask but...I hope you'll stay there for him."
Ochako's heart pounded hard as the guilt that had settled into her stomach flung itself upward. Her eyes watered and she found herself struggling to keep her feelings bottled up. She had to stay composed. She shouldn't lose it in front of this kind woman, she shouldn't bother anyone with this baggage. It wouldn't be fair.
She breathed deeply to push back the feelings that threatened to spill over her. She needed an escape. Just a moment to collect herself.
"Could I use your washroom?" With a herculean effort, Ochako managed to get the question out without spilling over.
"Sure, it's just on your…" Inko turned to regard the girl, her hand stuck out to the right to give guidance.
No...Ochako's felt like a deer in the headlights as she met Inko's glance, the mother's face muddied by her own watery eyes.
She punctuated the awkward moment of silence with a breath and edged slightly out of her chair. Maybe Inko wouldn't comment on it.
"Dear, is there something wrong?"
No...no….no….
Her head started feeling light as the question unleashed the floodgates inside of her. She sobbed as she stood up, her hand flying to her mouth to prevent more of the sadness from getting out of her. She had already done this to Deku. She couldn't do this to his mother of all people, too.
"I'm fine, sorry, there's just something...something in my eyes," Ochako stammered out between heaving, tiny breaths. She pushed hard against the surging tides within her. She was stronger than this.
A warm hand grabbed hers. Ochako went still as a statue in shock, a little gasp escaping her lips.
"It's okay," Inko said softly, her voice far too close to her ears. Goosebumps ran down Ochako's skin. "You can let it out if you'd like. I'll listen."
The touch reminded her of her own mother's. Ochako's throat clogged, preventing any attempt of protest from passing through.
Ochako lost track of time as she collapsed, sobbing into Inko's shoulder, muttering about everything but leaving nothing discernible. At some point, Inko guided them over to the soft couch, letting her cry all the while.
Inko didn't impose any questions and Ochako didn't let out any answers. She let herself be lost to the welling of her own feelings, no longer able to maintain the mask that hid her despair. It was cathartic but stinging to cry, the guilt of revealing herself mixing in with the rest of the tangled weeds that wrapped around themselves within her.
"I...I can't…" Ochako managed to get out between sobs after a while. She tried to fight her way back to composure, to answer for her actions and her inability to maintain herself. "I can't...protect him. I can't protect anyone..."
"That's not what I meant, dear," Inko replied, her voice taking on a comforting sweetness. "I meant I would like you to be there with him otherwise; be his friend. But you don't have to if you don't-"
"Of course I want to!" Ochako exclaimed, the force in her proclamation undercut by the sniffle that followed. "But...but I...I'm just so...I don't know."
Inko didn't respond immediately, letting Ochako breathe into the wool of her sweater. The hero-in-training gradually got her breathing to slow down but the quiet tears still flowed freely.
"When you love someone, I know how it can make you feel mixed up," Inko stated.
Ochako's breath went to a near standstill at Inko's implication. A part of her wanted desperately to interject but she found herself lacking the strength to do so.
"They can make you feel amazing, or sad, or infuriated, or...or lost," Inko continued, speaking with a worldly wisdom that age had given her. "Or all of that at the same time. Izuku and his father have made me feel that way, at times."
"How do you…" Ochako mumbled as she disentangled herself from Inko's embrace, rubbing a hand along her own face as she looked to Inko through a watery gaze. "How do you deal with it?"
"Not always well," Inko replied with a small chuckle. "But you have to know it's okay to feel those things. You don't have to keep it all bottled in."
Ochako sniffled and let her gaze wander around the room again, trying to sort out the remnants of the explosion set off within her mind.
"I...I don't know how to feel about Deku," Ochako said softly. Her filter was blown to pieces. There wasn't much point in trying to hide things.
"That's fine too. I don't think he's fully realized how he feels about you, either."
"But I know I want to be like him. To save people like him," Ochako continued with more surety. "I just...I just don't think I can."
There it was, laid out in the open. Ochako could feel a migraine coming on and clutched at her head. She leaned her side against the couch cushions and kept her gaze trained on the fabric. She didn't want to look up.
"When I asked Izuku about the friends he was making, you were the first person he mentioned. He was pretty shy about it at first."
Ochako's ears perked up at the start of her story but she didn't move from her position.
"But he eventually opened about you. He said he met a girl. Then he said you were really nice. I started to notice how his eyes lit up whenever he talked about you."
Ochako buried her face into the cushions and sighed, her cheeks flushing again.
"He talked about how incredible you were. How he was glad to have you as a best friend," Inko went on, unrelenting, her voice channelling the same admiration as her son. "I think you should talk to him but...but I don't think he wants you to be like him. I think he wants you to be you."
She looked up then to see Inko, beaming at her. The mother reached out across to gently grasp Ochako's hand, gazing at her with a familiar intensity.
"And for what it's worth...I think you're a great hero. And I think you should be you, too."
A fresh round of tears streamed down Ochako's face. "Thank you," she whispered. She didn't know what else she could possibly say to that. She didn't really know how to respond to something so kind and heartfelt. She was still unsure but...it made her feel a little bit better.
"You're welcome." Inko left the couch for a moment but returned with a box of tissues, which Ochako gratefully accepted and started blowing her nose.
"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Inko asked earnestly as she watched over the young girl.
Ochako answered her with a trumpeting of her nose. "I think...I think I'll be alright. I need to talk to Deku though. I want to...I want to apologize to him."
"That seems like a good idea," Inko nodded, before getting back to busy herself with the stovetop. "Well, I think I've stalled out on cooking for long enough. Sorry about that."
"No, no, it's okay," Ochako replied weakly, waving a hand at Inko. "You...you helped me a lot."
"Glad to hear it," Inko said with a bright smile before busying her hands with preparing the long-delayed meal.
Ochako sighed and sank back into the couch, trying to ignore the onset of a headache. Inko's words swam through her mind, disrupting the chaotic waters within.
Despite Inko's assurance, she wasn't sure of herself. She couldn't be. And she didn't know if she could really stop herself from chasing Deku's shadow.
But she did not think she was being fair to him. Ultimately, he had just been trying to live up to his ideal of a hero...like she herself was. She felt she understood him and his unstoppable zeal a little better now. She was worried about his recklessness but the selfless disregard for his own being ultimately saved Eri's life, and possibly countless others in the long run. She shouldn't begrudge him for that.
Deep down, she knew he could achieve anything he put his mind too. That might not completely assuage the aching of her heart but she could rely on her faith in him.
But those were things she could worry about in the future. She realized that she had to have a serious talk with Deku. She was tired of living without her best friend; she needed to make amends.
That was the least she could do.
AN: The third and final part will be posted Dec. 17.
Thank you to RandomPersonaFanatic on the IzuOcha Discord server for editing this.
I hope you all enjoyed this. Please leave a review and/or a favourite if you did. =)
