Hatsume blinked twice, her pink vision allowing her to see the worried looks of Midoriya and his mother as Melissa arrived, holding a toolbox. She had already changed to her school uniform, so the only thing left to do was take out the eyes to get hem upgraded.
"Are you sure about this, Hatsume?" Inko asked as she grabbed an anesthetic from the toolbox. "We could always wait until the weekend to upgrade your eyes. No need to miss a school day to upgrade your eyes-"
The gadgeteer shook her head. "No, I want them upgraded as soon as possible. Besides, Midoriya promised me to be my eyes for today, so I got nothing to worry about."
"You two really are close, huh?" Melissa asked as she formed a supportive smile. "I mean, I guess it's only natural. It's thanks to him that you got these eyes, right?"
Hatsume flinched a little, forgetting that Melissa was more than likely unaware of what had transpired between the Hero Killer and the guys. But she didn't let this get her down for long. She took a deep breath, nodding in agreement as Inko injected the anesthetic on her arm.
And a few seconds later, Hatsume fell unconscious.
A couple minutes passed, and when Hatsume regained consciousness, she could see... nothing. Even when she opened her eyelids, weakly, the nothingness remained, simply glowing brighter.
"Hatsume, how do you feel?"
Midoriya's voice. Music to her ears.
"I'm fine. Can't see anything, though."
"Of course not, we took out your eyes," Inko's voice remarked. "Melissa and I will work hard on them so you'll be happy with them when you return."
A soft sensation in her hand startled Hatsume, but she calmed down once she realized the sensation was someone, possibly Midoriya, grabbing her hand to guide her.
"Hey, wait a minute, I just realized something: doesn't Midoriya and Melissa have to go to U.A.?"
"I called Principal Nezu and explained to him that I would be running late thanks to your request," Melissa explained. "He said it was fine as long as I got ready as soon as the gadget had been dealt with."
"As for me," Midoriya spoke. "I called in to say I had some business to take care of, so I wouldn't be able to go to school today."
Hatsume frowned. "But Midoriya, what about your classes?"
"I'll just ask Kendo to give me a recap of what went down today. And yes, I know there's also the chance Vlad King will be furious when he finds out I didn't go today, but at least I have a reason why."
Hatsume felt Midoriya grabbing her hand tightly, but not enough to crush. It felt more like a protective hold, as if Midoriya wanted to reassure her that nothing bad would happen to her.
"Now, where would you like to go first?"
Hatsume chuckled. Did he really just ask the blind girl to effectively lead the way?
"I'll go wherever you wanna go, Midoriya."
"In that case, I know just where to start!"
Hatsume sat down on a bench, in what she assumed to be a place close to a beach, going by what sounded like waves crashing on the shore. The girl was curious why this was Midoriya's first place to go to, but she decided to go along with it.
She couldn't exactly take the lead and go somewhere else.
"And we're here," Midoriya voiced, getting her attention. "Dagobah Municipal Beach Park."
...What?
"Um, Midoriya, did I hear you right?" she asked. "I mean, isn't Dagobah Municipal Beach Park more of a... dumpster, nowadays?"
"Not anymore, because some anonymous person was nice enough to clean the beach. I know you can't see it, but there's not a speck of garbage in the vicinity."
Okay, new plan: as soon as Hatsume's eyes were done, they had to go back so she could see the beach for herself.
"Midoriya, if you don't mind me asking, why did you take me to a beach?"
Just then, Midoriya loosened his grip on Hatsume's hand, so the girl tightened her own grip and grabbed his arm with her free hand. She made sure not to get too close, she knew doing such a thing would just scare him, which would make him separate from her.
"Don't worry, Hatsume," Midoriya remarked, his oblivious tone doing nothing to calm the girl's fears. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Y-You better not."
The boy paused. "Okay, let's do something: we'll sit on the sand, and I'll tell you what I wanted to do here, okay?"
Hatsume just nodded, and next thing she knew, Midoriya took her to a place closer to the waves and sat down.
The sand felt nice, and the louder sounds of the waves crashing in the shore had a soothing feeling that helped Hatsume forget her fear that Midoriya was going to go away and leave her behind. It didn't completely go away, though, as the girl had clung to the boy's arm.
"I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but..." Hatsume sighed. "I just don't feel safe without knowing you're near me."
Midoriya brushed Hatsume's hair. "Hatsume, you know that no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you."
"I'm sorry, Midoriya, I really am, but I just can't find it in myself to believe you. I feel like, any second after you let go, the Hero Killer is going to come out of nowhere and finish what he started."
Yup, even months after the event, and several months since the Hero Killer was still spotted, the girl was still terrified of the prospect of him appearing and killing her.
Sure, it was unlikely. Sure, there was a chance he'd kill a dozen heroes before he'd ever think of killing a support student. And sure, he could very well not appear until years down the line.
None of that mattered.
What mattered was that he blinded her, and he was still out there.
To Hatsume, without Midoriya or mechanical eyes, it was a matter of time before she was found and-
-hugged?
"M-Midoriya?"
The hug tightened, confirming it was Midoriya who was giving Hatsume a showcase of affection.
"W-What are you doing?"
"I couldn't think of anything else to do, so, I was hoping this would be enough to cheer you up," he answered, before he brushed her hair again. "I can't just stand and watch you be scared like that."
Hatsume eventually hugged back, letting out a chuckle as she quipped, "Well, you've always been unable to refuse a call for help."
Midoriya smiled, though Hatsume couldn't see it. "And in your case, I'm very glad I didn't refuse it."
Hatsume blushed brightly. "M-Midoriya, w-what are you saying?"
Midoriya began to separate from Hatsume, but unlike last time, the girl gathered her composure and didn't try to force him to stay put. Which was good, since she'd need all her energy for what he'd say next:
"I'm saying, that I want to protect you."
Hatsume raised an eyebrow, so Midoriya explained:
"When I snatched you away from the Hero Killer, I had no idea what to do. Sure, helping you get your eyesight back was the obvious thing to do, but after that, I was at a loss. And you just kept coming back..."
Hatsume blushed a little at the statement. She remembered how, in the ten months leading to the entrance exam, she would drop by the Midoriya's more and more often, initially just to try and test her mechanical eyes.
But eventually, she started dropping by just because. And then, she began to feel a little disillusioned when told Midoriya wasn't around.
And now, she had just tried to stop him from leaving her.
"I think I understand."
Was she too obvious?
"You're scared that if I leave you alone, Stain will kill you, right?"
Phew, false alarm.
"Y-Yes," she stammered. "T-That's it."
"Well, I want to let you know that, no matter what happens, I'll be around to protect you," Midoriya patted Hatsume's back. "Even if you think you're alone, you won't. Because I'll be with you, protecting you and making sure nothing bad happens to you."
A white flash happened, and Hatsume felt something very light land on her hair. Not that she gave much thought of it before she suddenly stated:
"I want to protect you too."
Midoriya said nothing, and after a short pause, Hatsume continued:
"It's not fair that you want to protect me without getting anything as a result. You have U.A., you have a future hero career, and you have a potentially crazy stalker who wants you for herself."
Midoriya nervously chuckled. "Okay, Mina definitely didn't give the impression of being pleasant, but I don't think she's that crazy."
"Whatever!" Hatsume twiddled her fingers. "The point is... I want to help you, just as you've helped me. So, if you say you want to protect me, then I'll protect you back."
"Hatsume..." his voice had a hint of relief in it.
"I don't know how, now how long it'll take, but I'll find a way to have your back, Midoriya."
With that, the teenagers patted each other's back, and remained silent as the sounds of the waves and the seagulls adorned the atmosphere.
And then Midoriya scoffed:
"You know, it's been almost over a year since we first met. Shouldn't you be calling me Izuku already?"
Hatsume pushed Midoriya away and flailed her arms.
"Are you crazy?! That's way too fast! We're good friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend!"
Midoriya chuckled. "Sorry, I just wanted to give you a piece of your own medicine."
"You jerk!"
Midoriya kept laughing, but it didn't have a hint of malice. It was just playful, friendly, the kind that anybody could join in without looking like an utter jerk.
And Hatsume did just that.
The rest of the day was nowhere near as eventful, so much so that, if you were to ask Hatsume, she and Midoriya had spent the whole day at the beach, with only a short stop at a carnival to eat ice cream.
The duo thus returned to the Midoriya household, being greeted by a welcoming hug from Melissa and Inko. And judging by how she felt a pair of soft mounds smothering her face, Hatsume figured Melissa was the one hugging her.
"Oh, Hatsume, you're back!" Melissa chirped, confirming she was the one hugging her. "I was just about to go out looking for you!"
"We weren't gone for that long, were we?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, but we finished upgrading your eyes, and I couldn't contain my excitement "It felt so good to work with Aunt Inko once again!"
"And me!"
Hatsume gently released herself from Melissa's hold and tried to walk closer to the voice, only to be stopped when Midoriya kept his grip on her.
"Midoriya, do you see where that voice came from?"
"Yeah, it belongs to a small boy with... a purple, circular mohawk?"
Hatsume wasn't sure how to take that answer. All she knew was that she wanted to know who it was, and there was only one way to find out.
She was knocked out again so the process of inserting the eyes wouldn't hurt, and a few minutes later, Hatsume opened them... and was utterly mesmerized.
Red! Blue! Green! Yellow! She could now see all the colors! And not in a clusterfuck of colors like in those abstract paintings, but she could see things clearly!
Like how Midoriya and Inko had green hair, Melissa was blonde, and the short guy really did have what looked like a purple, rounded mohawk-
Wait, the short guy!
"Who are you?!" Hatsume exclaimed, pointing at the boy.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the guy said, Hatsume flashing an expression that told him to get on with it. "My name is Minoru Mineta. I'm on the support course, and I came here to check up on my senior."
"Senior?" Hatsume repeated. Did that mean the boy was on her class?
"How did you know to look for her here?" Midoriya inquired.
"I asked our teacher where she was since she didn't appear, and he told me that your Mom sent him a message telling him she wouldn't come," Mineta explained with a shrug. "So then I asked some people where I could find your house, and a guy with blonde hair gave me directions."
Bakugou gave the little guy directions? Without blowing him up? Then again, it was just as likely the little guy didn't mention that stuff for one reason or another.
"Anyway, I got here just as the two ladies over there were working on your eyes," Mineta added, causing Melissa to blush while Inko just chuckled. "So, since you're my senior, I figured I could add some modifications myself."
Oh lord, what the hell did the little twerp do?
"If you wanna know, just press the purple button to your left."
Hatsume touched the left side of her face until she found the mentioned button, and pushed it. Once she did, she was stunned: her vision had zoomed in on the guy's face, and allowed her to take a closer look at the room in general.
She pressed it again, her vision zoomed further.
She pressed it once more, and it zoomed even further.
But then she pressed it again, and her vision zoomed back to normal.
"I-It's just like my Quirk!" she chirped. "B-But how?!"
"The boy there reminded us of your Quirk when he asked for a girl who could zoom into things," Inko explained. "And since we had some time, we installed three sets of sight-enhancing apparatus to your eyes."
"I added the button!" Mineta chirped, as if he had done anything important.
Hatsume smiled and nodded. "Thanks, little guy."
Mineta chuckled and scratched the back of his head, while Hatsume turned back to Midoriya.
"Can we go back to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park?"
All five of them did.
Midoriya, Melissa, Inko, and Mineta stood just at the start of the park, while Hatsume took a couple steps forward, taking in the time to look at the scenery in front of her.
Sure, she could always just zoom in, but that would risk getting a faceful of the sun.
The sunset adorned the sky with a breathtaking orange color, and its reflection shined in the waves as they crashed on the shore.
Hearing the waves was soothing enough. Seeing them... was another thing altogether.
"So, Hatsume..." Midoriya walked to Hatsume's side. "What do you think? Do you like the upgrade?"
Hatsume formed a smile, and rested her head on Midoriya's shoulder, keeping her eyes locked on to the sunset.
"I love it..."
"By the way, Hatsume, before I forget," Midoriya blurted. "Where did that feather come from?"
Surprised by the question, Hatsume touched her hair until she felt something fluffy. She grabbed it and took it down to see whatever it was, and she saw it was the feather that Midoriya just mentioned.
But it wasn't any ordinary feather.
It was a swan feather.