Extra Extra! Ochako's Chapter

Ochako wasn't sure what to make of the green haired boy.

First he'd been 'creepy green haired boy who stared at people for no reason and made strange noises'.

Then he'd come running in to save her, managing to break three of four limbs and caving in a ten-story tall robot with a single punch (he still made strange noises, which didn't really add up…) without getting a single other point in the exam.

After the exam, trying to offer up her points as some form of thanks, she'd gone home and thought about him. Maybe a little bit more than she liked to admit. Trying to thank him had been both being thankful and not wanting to be indebted to someone like him. On the off chance that he tried using that as an excuse, and still ended up being weird, then… she had a way out. And she'd done the right thing. She really hoped he wasn't that kind of person.

When she saw him standing at the door of their classroom, eyes closed in concentration, she wondered if he was weird at all. Could he just be… awkward? Nervous? Had she really written him off so quickly before? She'd barely said a word to him and found him blushing like crazy, staring at his feet the entire time, until they'd been interrupted by their homeroom teacher (who cosplayed a caterpillar? Really? Could she do that during winter?)

Thanks to him interrupting their teacher during the demonstration, she learned his name and watched Bakugo be a complete asshole all in the same few minutes. Seriously, what was with that? Who gave someone such a nice nickname and told them to shut the fuck up in the same sentence? Quietly, she thought they were like the protagonists in an anime, or a protagonist and the rival. She didn't like that, though, because Bakugo would be a really horrible main character.

All her previous ideas went out the window when Midoriya exploded.

She'd learned a few things after that, while Aizawa abandoned them on the field and Midoriya was ferried to the nurse. One, Bakugo knew something about it (Kirishima nearly got his hand blown off, so asking wasn't a good idea). Two, everyone on campus had been affected by Midoriya's quirk. Everyone seemed to have a different idea about what happened, but they'd all heard some crazy noise and no one knew what it was. Third, Iida was strangely worried about Midoriya (she'd literally run into him on her way out the gates) and Iida seemed kinda funny (was he…? It was none of her business).

Later that night, when she thought about it, Midoriya's quirk seemed special. She'd always heard something weird when he was around, and she could remember something weird when he'd smashed the Zero Pointer. His quirk must be some sort of sound quirk, but why was he so skittish? Was he just walking around with that noise on all the time? Ochako couldn't imagine walking around with power like that running rampant.

Midoriya in class was quiet. The entire class was quiet, actually. No one seemed sure of how to approach him. There was an aura of despair clinging to him like his own personal rain cloud, and anyone who got close to asking seemed warded off by it.

She managed to approach him during lunch and ask about his quirk, but it seemed really strange. How could everyone have a song? What kind of song was it? Despite her curiosity, he seemed really nervous, so she stuck to regular topics. That seemed to keep him taking, at least, and he relaxed a little bit. Really, he didn't seem so bad. Just nervous, and frightened. Ochako decided she would be his friend if it killed her, because he seemed lonely.

Watching him before the trial was a bit unsettling. Midoriya seemed to drift from worried to focused to anxious to focused again and finally to pure panic when their pairing was announced.

As he sat wringing his hands nervously, staring at the page but not seeming to really learn anything (seriously, was he always shaking that badly?), a thought struck her.

Midoriya is really afraid, isn't he?

She'd only meant to ask about Bakugo, because their whole dynamic didn't really make sense, but somehow they'd stumbled on down that road and ended up in the… really depressing area Ochako hadn't wanted to end up at. Offering up support was what teammates did… right?

Then why did Midoriya seem so lost?

When the stepped inside, he was different. He'd spent the last minute of preparation time thinking quietly, without all the worry in his face. Suddenly he was ready, and he knew more than she'd expected. She followed him because she didn't have anything better, and because she was sure he needed a partner. Not someone trying to fight him.

She watched from the corner as he baited Bakugo and flipped him.

Wait… He's…?! She watched Midoriya flip Bakugo over his shoulder, despite shaking like a leaf. Bakugo climbed to his feet, just as confused as she felt. Midoriya took off down a hallway and Uraraka felt something urge her forward.

Finding the rocket was easy with the top floor so empty. When she peeked around the corner and saw Iida getting into character, though, she lost control. The fight wasn't easy on her stomach, but she held it together. Something was coming. What, she didn't know. But she could feel it in her bones. Midoriya would…

Ochako and Iida both paused when they heard it. Unlike the day before, or the Zero-Pointer, the song came quietly. A few beats from beneath their feet, echoing quietly and gradually becoming louder. It sounded familiar, and at the same time like nothing she'd ever heard. Too many parts played out at once. Voices screamed and wept and sang, all while some inhuman sound accompanied them in a song made of pure emotion and old wounds.

She collapsed on the floor, feeling as if the music had consumed her and drawn her towards whatever was happening below. For a brief, terrifying moment, she cowered behind Midoriya, caught in the throes of a hurricane. Her hands reached out and touched Midoriya's shoulders, holding him up as he sank back beneath the downpour. When he turned and looked over his shoulder, she caught a glimpse of his smile. The storm broke overhead, and sunlight wreathed Midoriya, and everyone standing behind him. Ochako stood beside a smaller woman with green hair, both of them dwarfed by All Might. Bakugo appeared for a moment, standing beside Midoriya and staring up at the storm with a smile only to disappear a moment later. As he faded, Ochako looked up and saw him flying in the sky over the storm, looking down at them.

The storm convulsed, converged and descended like the wrath of the gods, and Uraraka felt her grip on Midoriya's back loosen. All Might and the other woman disappeared, leaving her alone at Midoriya's back. She stared as he drew back and arm and laughed in the face of what had to be the end.

Ochako was ripped away as Midoriya began to glow.

"Now, Uraraka!"

The music died (the world held its breath) and Ochako leapt up to grab the pillar at her side.

When the floor exploded and flew towards the ceiling, Ochako grinned.

"HERO TEAM WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!"

Ochako and Iida watched Midoriya being taken away with a sense of… awe. It was the only word that could describe the feeling, but it didn't quite describe how empty it felt. As if someone had left a cave in their chests, and they could only stare at the ceiling in awe of the size.

Whatever they'd seen, it wasn't normal. She knew that. Midoriya's quirk had created that. He'd spun them all together as if they weren't only school kids but characters in some epic tale.

She glanced over at Iida before they left the building and followed his eyes to where Bakugo was being escorted by All Might.

"That… Bakugo was the storm... right?" Iida asked, voice full of uncertainty. Ochako frowned.

"I'm not really sure what that was." She glanced over at Iida again. "Where were you?"

"I… I'm not sure. I was caught in the storm but watching from the ground while Midoriya…" Iida clenched his fist. "I don't think… I was supposed to be where I was. I wanted to be with Midoriya."

Ochako knew what he meant.

"How… Why did we see that?" Iida's voice grew raspy. Ochako sighed and grabbed his arm, pulling him forward.

"Something about a fated battle between men, I think."

Ochako was glad Iida got the title of V.I.P., even if they knew the truth. Bakugo looked… wrecked, for lack of a better word. If her stomach hadn't been acting up, she'd have asked if the others had felt Midoriya's quirk even here, in the control room. The three of them filled into the crowd as the next teams moved out, and the short girl with the ear-jacks nudged her arm.

"Hey, did you guys hear anything weird while you were out there?" Ochako blinked.

"Yeah, but… it was more than that." The girl's eyebrows rose. Ochako looked at the screens, watching as the new teams filed into a new building but remembering what it felt like to be beneath the storm. "…I don't really know how to describe it. Even though he was two floors beneath us, it felt like… I was fighting right alongside Midoriya and Bakugo. At least for a second."

Jirou stared at her for a moment before she nodded and turned back to the screens.


Ochako watched the rest of the class chatting as they packed up their things. Part of her wanted to join them. The rest of her felt as if her energy had been totally drained from the trial. Iida seemed the same (he hadn't even yelled at Tokoyami for sitting on the desks), but she didn't want to talk to him much either.

The door slid open quietly, and the class paused to watch as Midoriya slipped in. Before he could reach his desk, Kirishima caught him.

"Hey, Midoriya! That was a hell of a fight you guys had! I couldn't hear what you were saying but you were really going at it!" Midoriya smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head with the hand not in a sling. Ochako blinked and confirmed that yes, his arm is in a sling and cast?!

"Midoriya, your arm…!"

"Oh, I… apparently I'm low on stamina and she couldn't heal it entirely." Midoriya smiled (genuinely, this time). Ashido, the pink skinned girl closed in on him.

"Midoriya! Nice dodging during the fight!" Midoriya's smile became a little more forced as, one by one, their classmates called out compliments. There was still some space- only Kirishima had bothered to close the gap and talk to him face to face. Everyone seemed to be aware that there was something more to Midoriya than they could put their finger on.

"Um, where did…?" Midoriya looked towards Ochako, and somehow she guessed what he meant.

"Oh, Bakugo headed home a few minutes ago." He nodded, frowned and rushed towards the door. When it shut behind him, the classroom grew quiet again.

"So… Which one do you think is stronger…" Kaminari broke the silence, glancing towards the back of the room. "Midoriya or Todoroki?"

Ochako headed towards the door as the debate sparked up and died, ignoring the answer entirely. She watched as Midoriya and Bakugo had a shouting match on the path and she hugged her arms.

After two days, she had no idea what to think about Midoriya.

Why couldn't she stop thinking about him then?