After they stepped off the elevator on the third floor, Asui continued to play along with Eri's game and hopped like a frog alongside her all the way to Hagakure's room. As they finally reached the door, Asui first knocked and then opened the door before anyone could answer.
"Hey everyone, look who's joining us last minute for a fully-fledged girl's night!" she exclaimed, moving aside to expose Eri standing in the doorway behind her. Before she could greet anyone. Eri suddenly became transfixed by the room decorations. It was just so pink and...cute!
Upon first glance inside the room, she immediately noticed the tea table in the center of the room, adorned with a frilly bordered heart design and a ribbon bow in the center. She could only make out the design for a second or two before Ashido covered the table top with bags of potato chips, freshly popped popcorn, boxes of cookies, and other sweets. Eri then looked behind the table to the cherry-printed curtains covering the windows. To the left sat Hagakure's desk, with a simple but soft pink chair to match. A blank pink T-shirt and sweatpants hovering over the chair, so Eri knew Hagakure was sitting there, finishing up some last minute work before the festivities.
"Hi, Eri! Oh my gosh, this is going to be great! You're going to have so much fun, I promise!" she yelled, bursting out of her chair and jumping up and down with excitement.
As Ashido finished arranging the snacks on the table, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka, sitting on the bed, stopped their conversation mid-sentence; Jiro sat on the floor in front of them, looking at something on her phone. As Eri stepped inside, she heard a uniform gasp from everyone in the room and began to smile.
"So cute!" Uraraka routinely exclaimed, almost falling over the side of the bed.
"Hi Eri! Ooh, I love your rain boots!" greeted Yaoyorozu as Eri slid them off and placed them next to the closed door behind her.
"Me too! The lavender matches my room perfectly!" Hagakure giggled.
"Hi everyone! Shouta got my boots for me," Eri explained, then added, "I love your room, Toru."
"Why thank you! I thought the place could use some color!" Hagakure bolstered, proud that someone appreciated her color aesthetics. "I bet Aizawa-sensei's been spoiling you with so many cute things. Actually, thinking about it now, it kind of seems hard to imagine. I mean, I've never even seen him smile."
"Yeah, me neither," mumbled everyone to themselves.
"At least not a genuine smile," Asui added.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he needed extra help picking out those boots," Jiro said teasingly.
"But I see him smile all the time, and sometimes, I'll do something that'll make him laugh! I don't know what it is, but I'm happy that I can make him happy," Eri explained, as she crouched next to the snack table, mouth slightly watering.
"That still surprises me, but I'm glad you like staying with him," Ashido chimed in. "I wonder if we could finally get a picture as proof and show everyone else in class. I bet he would feel so embarrassed, he would never come back to class and we could skip our midterms!"
"He probably would leave, but we would never get off the hook for classes or midterms. But anyway, let's start the movie!" said Hagakure as she began to move her small TV screen from the top of a storage box to the top of her dresser, so everyone could have a better view. "We should probably pick out a different movie since Eri's joining us. Any suggestions?"
Everyone paused for a few moments, thinking about an appropriate movie for Eri that everyone would enjoy. After another pause, Asui's eyes lit up and she asked, "What about Frozen? I just remembered my little siblings watched it not long ago and they really liked it."
"That sounds like a great idea!" Uraraka exclaimed. "The main character reminds me a lot of Eri, too!"
Upon hearing her name, Eri immediately looked up with an interested but perplexed look.
"The main character is like me?" she asked.
"Yeah! She has beautifully light-colored hair just like you, and she also has a really strong power that she's afraid of. But as the movie goes on, she learns to control her power, just like you will someday!" Uraraka explained. Everyone else looked around and nodded in agreement. They knew Eri was still scared of hurting others with her Quirk, so hopefully this movie would be a good boost to her self-esteem.
"Alright, let's do it! Tsuyu, do you have a copy?" Hagakure asked.
"Yeah, but it's up in my room. Give me a minute to go get it," Asui said as she stood up, slid her feet into her slippers and left to retrieve the movie.
As she closed the door behind her, Eri stood up and moved closer to the curtains, until she saw something blue pop up from behind the bed frame. As she moved closer and looked in the corner of the room, she dropped her jaw at the size of Hagakure's large teddy bear, with sky-blue fur and a dark purple bow neatly tied around its neck. She beamed at the sight of it and shrieked.
Everyone jumped at the sudden noise, then settled back down when they realized it was just Eri ogling over the bear. They knew she had seen a teddy bear before, but probably never one of that size.
"Toru, Toru, can I snuggle with the teddy bear during the movie?" Eri asked excitedly.
"Of course! Let me help you pull it out since it's kind of heavy," Hagakure said as she stood up from her chair once again and pulled out the bear by its arms. Eri tried to help by pulling on the arm closest to her, but it didn't seem to help as Hagakure lifted it off the ground in a giant hug, maneuvered herself out of the corner, and placed it gently on the ground next to Jiro. Eri situated herself in the teddy bear's lap and wrapped herself up in its fluffy arms as Asui returned with a DVD case in her hand. She gave it to Hagakure and then settled down next to Eri and her new blue best friend. Hagakure placed the DVD in the player, and as the opening credits began, she turned off the lights and sat on the bed with Yaoyorozu and Uraraka.
As the movie began to progress and the plot unfolded itself, Eri understood what Uraraka said earlier: she related to Elsa's character so much that she could not believe it.
At one point, the movie reached the scene in which Anna arrives at Elsa's crystalline castle and tries to convince her to come home; in the end, Elsa refuses and, in a panic of raw emotion, accidentally releases a surge of ice power that physically hurts Anna. Eri froze as tears began to well up around her eyes and slowly fall down her cheeks. Asui glanced over and noticed, immediately standing up and grabbing a box of tissues from Hagakure's desk. She sat back down next to Eri and placed the box in front of her.
"It's okay," she whispered, gently rubbing Eri's back in soothing circles as she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. No one else in the room said anything, but they completely understood. They knew it might be hard for her to watch something like this that might re-open some old wounds, but they hoped it would help her grow and realize that being alone and afraid of yourself is no way to live.
They continued to watch the movie, right up to the happy ending. Eri stopped crying earlier in the movie, and by the end was amazed at the ways Elsa controlled her power and used it in a way that made everyone happy. As the ending credits began to display on the screen, Hagakure got up from the bed and turned the lights on.
"Wow...I wanna be just like Elsa!" Eri exclaimed. "I want to learn to control my Quirk so I can be strong and make others happy, too."
She felt a hand patting her head from behind her, and so she turned to realize it was Yaoyorozu.
"You're already strong and you make a lot of people happy just by smiling! I know you'll be able to control your Quirk someday, but until then, remember to be happy and smile every day. Not just for others, but for yourself, too!"
For whatever reason, the last part seemed really resonate with Eri. She had heard it from a lot of other people, but something about tonight felt different. Smile for myself, she thought to herself. She was so proud of herself when she began to smile at the school festival that she wanted to show everyone, especially Shouta. She loved that she could make him happy with her smile...but maybe he was really happy because she was happy! Eri thought on it a bit more, slightly hunched over with a puzzled expression. Suddenly, she realized that she never thanked Shouta for all the kind things he did that made her happy, like tucking her into bed, telling her stories, and buying her new rain boots, to name a few. In that moment, she decided to thank him properly, but didn't quite know what way would be best.
Suddenly, her train of thought was disrupted by Ashido calling her name to get her attention.
"Eri! Do you want me to do your hair?"