Side Chapter: A Summer of Blossoming Love.
-Izuku's old hometown, ten years earlier-
It was a couple days after Taida, Bakugo and other kids had left for the Jr. Heroes Summer Camp in Osaka, and Ochako had just gotten over her cold, but was devastated that she couldn't go. Her parents had spent a lot of time saving up for it, and she wasn't able to let them see her off.
As she continued to sulk on the top of a jungle gym with a glass of her favorite bubble milk tea, she heard someone singing a simple tune while climbing up the rock wall.
"Just a drop on your tongue adds ten years to your life, a big swallow gives you a hundred more! Drink it all and you'll live forever!~" A voice sang as a younger Izuku climbed up to the top of the jungle gym and eyed the travel glass of delicious tea and immediately knew how he wanted it to play in his new game. "Ha ha! There it is! The fountain of youth! Eternal life and immortality here I come!" He grinned as he rubbed his hands together and licked his lips.
"No! No immortality for you! Shoo!" Ochako said without thinking.
"Huh?" The boy said before he suddenly recognized the girl in front of him. "Hey Uraraka, whatcha doin' here? Why aren't cha at the summer camp with Kacchan and King?" He asked.
"I got a cold right as I was supposed to go. I'm over it, but I can't go to that camp now." She said in a depressed tone.
"Oh, that sucks." He said while sitting down and patting the ground next to him. "Wanna talk about it?" He asked.
"No… Why aren't you at the camp? Heroes are your favorite thing in the world." The girl asked.
"My mom lost my permission slip a week before it was time to go, can you believe it?! And I heard All Might was supposed to be visiting it too~!" The boy whined.
"Aw…" Ochako whined. "Well… At least we have each other." She sighed.
"Yeah… So, you wanna play a new game I came up with?" Izuku asked.
"Sure. What's it called?" His friend asked.
"It's called 'the Bandit and the fountain of Youth'. I play the role of the bandit trying to steal the fountain." He explained while pointing to the girl's bubble milk tea. "And you play the role of the holy woman guarding it." He added.
"And my tea is supposed to be the fountain?" Ochako asked with a grin.
"Yep." Izuku chirped. "Now just get ready and we can start." The girl did so and he climbed up the gym again while singing the same tune from earlier but this time when he saw Uraraka, his expression was confused again. "Hey little girl, what're you doing here? You lost?" He asked her, looking down at her as there was roughly an inch difference between them height wise.
"Little girl?! I'll have you know I'm the guardian of the fountain!" She replied indignantly, getting into her role surprisingly well.
"Really? Huh." He said.
"Yes, and I'm protecting the fountain from people like you." She nodded as she touched him and her quirk activated and he started to float off into the distance quickly before dropping into a nearby sandbox.
"Oh sh-!" The boy yelled as he fell but was relieved as he landed on the sand.
"Well, that's done." The girl giggled as she sat down before…
"Just a drop on your tongue-WHOA!" Izuku sang as he started climbing again before he was knocked off again but this time by a kick to the face and was luckily saved by being caught on a rock on the climbing wall.
'What the-? Does he have a luck based quirk or something?' Ochako wondered idly. Sure, she was glad her friend wasn't seriously hurt, but she couldn't help but think that based on what she just saw.
"Darn it, will you just stop?!" Izuku questioned as he climbed over the edge.
"You're the one who needs to stop around here! How are you even alive right now?! No human can survive a fall from this height!" She questioned incredulously.
"Just lucky, I guess." The green haired boy shrugged. "But now I think it's about time that I got serious." He added. He then pulled a small pair of two toy nunchucks and started whipping them around before they glowed pink and as he whipped it towards the cup, Uraraka was unable to block as he took it from behind her and into his hand with a whip of pink energy.
Izuku sniffed the cup before shrugging. "Not bad. Doesn't smell like soda though, but I guess it'll do." He shrugged. "Well, bottoms up. And when I say here's to my health, I mean it!" He chuckled as he was about to take a drink…
"Noooo!" Uraraka yelled as she ran and made him float again and took the cup before it hit the ground.
"Oh come on!" Izuku exclaimed indignantly, but he was clearly having fun.
"I'm through with trying to make you people understand!" She snapped. "But if you take away the fountain everything here will wither and die. So give up your quest and leave this place now!" She ordered.
"Eh, alright, fine." The boy shrugged nonchalantly, causing the brunette to be caught completely off guard.
"Um… What?" Ochako asked, unsure if she heard that right. 'This is fun!' She thought happily.
"Honest." He chuckled, good naturedly. 'Good, she's liking the game.' He added mentally.
"Who are you, anyway?" She asked, letting him down.
"Can't ya tell? I'm a bandit. But Bandit Izuku is my handle around here. What about you? What's your name?" He asked while rolling his shoulder.
"Oh, I'm Ochako, guardian of the fountain." She 'introduced' herself.
Izuku swayed back and forth as his body suddenly started to feel heavy after using his quirk. "Sleepy…" The five year old said before he fell down right in front of her.
"What the- Izuku, what's wrong?" Ochako asked, but the boy was already snoring. "Hey, hey come on! You can't sleep here!" She told him as she tried to shake him awake.
"Can't… I'm seriously tired." The boy said with a yawn. Uraraka sighed in exasperation as she kept shoving him to try and get him to wake up.
"Come on! Wake up, already! This is hardly the place to sleep!" She urged as she kept shaking him to no avail. This continued until the sun started to set and the girl ended up falling asleep next to him, and their parents took them home after finding them there.
(The next day)
"Man~! Ochako, I'm super thirsty!" Izuku whined as the two sat in the jungle gym and played with some of the boy's action figures.
"So am I." The girl whined in agreement as she subconsciously rubbed her throat in discomfort.
"Come on, let's go get something to drink." The boy suggested as he hopped down from the two's shared perch and helped his friend down before they started walking down the street until they reached one of the many vending machines that were around town.
"Do you even have any money?" Uraraka asked. Izuku smirked as he sifted through the change slots of three machines before pulling out several small handfuls of yen.
"Don't need any, people always leave change in the change slots." He smirked.
"Nice." The girl smirked back. The boy then had the girl stand on his shoulders and put the coins in the machine and then typing in the needed numbers. This then gave them both Melon flavored Ramune drinks, which they both opened and started drinking.
"Ah~! Much better!" Izuku smiled as he took a swallow of the fizzy green liquid.
"Oh yeah~! This hits the spot." Uraraka nodded in agreement with her own smile as she took a sip.
"Hmmm, hey stay right here, I'll be right back." He told her.
"Where're you going?" She asked, sitting on a small picnic table nearby.
"I'm just gonna get something from home!" He called back as he ran off. The girl pouted at his departure and hoped he'd be back soon.
Luckily though, he came right back. "Ta-da~!" He sang as he showed her a book full of stickers of labels from popular Pro Hero themed sodas. Ochako looked at it with interest.
"You collect Pro Hero soda labels?" She asked as she looked at him. The boy smiled with a gleaming grin.
"Yep! It combines two of my favorite things: Heroes and Soda. So of course I'm gonna collect it!" The boy smiled, before his face turned disappointed. "But Kacchan, King and the others just can't see how awesome this thing is." He sighed. Ochako looked at him and back at the label book.
"... I think it's cool." She admitted. This made her friend perk up as he turned the pages to page thirteen.
"Hey look, this is a special edition Space Hero: Thirteen Ramune Sour Blueberry Soda." Izuku told her as he showed her the label in question. "Thirteen is your favorite hero, right?" He asked.
"Yeah. She saved a ton of people caught in various disasters. I wanna be just like her." Uraraka nodded with a smile.
"Well if I ever find another bottle, I'll bring it to you." He smiled. This made the girl smile back.
"Hey Izuku, if you wanted to change your quirk to something else, what would you want it to be?" She asked as the two continued to enjoy their drinks. The five year old green haired boy thought for a moment before shrugging.
"I dunno. Never really gave it any thought." He replied. "Though if I had to say one… I'd say immortality, ya know, eternal youth, being able to heal from any wound, the works." He shrugged. "I mean, with a hero who can't die, no villains would wanna come out and face me for the rest of time."
"That sounds kinda lonely, though." Ochako commented.
"It'd make everyone else happy, though. Isn't that what a hero's job is about?" He asked. "Plus, I always thought that if you lived long enough, something good's bound to happen sooner or later."
"What makes you think nothing good has happened in your life so far?" She asked. "And what if nothing good comes out of that long life?" She continued.
"I mean… Eh, whatever." Izuku shrugged. "But my life's been pretty good so far… though Kacchan constantly picking on me is a real pain." He added with a sigh.
"Yeah… Then again, it's Bakugo." The gravity girl shrugged.
"Fair enough, I guess." Izuku shrugged in agreement as he sat back. "Hey, how long had you been waiting for stuff to happen after Taida and the others left?" He asked.
"... So far? Nearly seven weeks." The girl sighed. This made Izuku almost fall over.
"Seven weeks?!" He said in surprise.
"Are you really that surprised?" She questioned.
"That's gotta be boring!" The boy nearly shouted. This time, it was Ochako's turn to nearly fall over.
"O-out of what I just said, that's what you think?" She asked in surprise before she suddenly got aggravated. "It was boring, alright?! Boring! Boring! Boring Boring!" She ranted.
"Jeez…" He sighed. The two continued to talk as they started walking home, until they got to Uraraka's treehouse that she and her brother made together. Inside it was full of toys, decorations and had two small Japanese futon beds.
"*Yawn* Me and King usually sleep here during the summer to save money on the air conditioner bill. You can stay here if you *yawn* want." The girl told him as she crawled into one of the beds.
"I'll talk to my *yawn* mom about it. I think she'll *yawn* say yes, though." He replied as he flopped onto the other bed tiredly. Within a few minutes though, the two were asleep, with the green haired boy subconsciously hugging his pink cheeked companion in his sleep.
"Mmmm, you're as soft as a ball of *yawn* mochi…" He said in his sleep as he hugged her closer. Later on, Inko would stumble upon the scene as she was looking for him and take a picture to gush about before taking her son home. Though she did talk with Ochako's mother about the two staying in the treehouse together for the summer before leaving.
(The next day)
Uraraka woke up the next morning and found that Izuku had disappeared, but he had left his Soda Label Collection by mistake.
"Guess his mom came to pick him up, but he left his soda label book here by accident." She sighed as she picked it up. "He'll be here again, though. There's no way he'd just leave this here." She told herself.
Though the boy didn't come back until late in the evening when he climbed into the treehouse with a duffel bag and a small cooler in hand. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and jolted Uraraka from her nap.
"Yo, Ochako!" He greeted as he opened a Ramune bottle with blue soda in it and handed it to her. "Here you go, have a drink." He told her as he handed her the bottle. The girl shook her head clear of cobwebs and took the bottle.
"Where have you been all day?" She asked as she opened the bottle and took a sip.
"Getting some stuff, clothes, toiletries, stuff like that. And…" He said as he started opening another bottle. "The Soda I told ya about." He added. "Now, let's drink, cheers!" He smiled and took a sip. Ochako smiled as she took a sip of her soda and noticed Thirteen on the label, causing her smile to widen.
Eagerly she started drinking the soda, until the sour part of 'Sour Blueberry' took effect, forcing her to stop. "It's sour!" She said in surprise as she sucked her cheeks in subconsciously. Her face made Izuku laugh.
"What's So funny? Making someone wait so long after leaving them behind, wherever you're going… At least tell me that much!" She told him in an almost pseudo drunken state.
Izuku just kept laughing as he too was in a similar state. The zero gravity girl looked at him for a few seconds before she too started to laugh as well. After that, they continued playing for the rest of the day, Ochako feeling extremely happy the whole time about the fact that she wasn't alone.
Later on, the green haired boy decided to take the girl to a creek he, Bakugo, King and the gang found outside of town, and both brought their swimming clothes.
Izuku was soaking in the water as Ochako got changed before turning to face her. "Hey, wanna take a dip together?" He asked her with a smile.
However, the water obstructed his swimming trunks, which gave the illusion that he didn't have any on, or possibly lost them by accident. Much to the young girl's embarrassment. She quickly turned away with an embarrassed blush.
"Huh? Something wrong?" He asked her.
"N-No, nothing's wrong!" She said while shaking her head and going in the water with him.
(Later)
"Hey hey! You're telling me that you're already not so bored after a few days of playing around?" Izuku asked in surprise.
"No. It's just… It'll be over when summer ends." She sighed, wishing this would last forever. "But, it's really been fun, I really enjoyed listening to your stories and playing games, I… Really enjoyed it."
"Ah…" He nodded as he got up. "I'm gonna snag something to eat, want anything?" He asked.
"No, nothing." She told him, which he then left. As she was waiting in the treehouse for Izuku to get back as she looked at his Soda Label collection, with a smile on her face.
"I don't know why but, I wouldn't mind Izuku taking me away like he was going to do with that tea… I bet it would've been nice…" She said to herself while not noticing that he had come behind her.
"Huh? Should I do that too, then?" He asked as he was eating some gummy candies he brought with him. Ochako jumped in surprise and turned to face him.
"Oh! Sorry, Izuku. Didn't hear you coming." She said sheepishly.
"It's okay." He shrugged before he grinned. "So you wanted me to steal you away huh?" He teased, which caused the girl to blush.
"No, that's not-!" She stuttered before looking away which caused him to chuckle.
"Well I'll tell you what, when we get older and start training together to become heroes, I'll do just that and take you as my own. How's that?" He asked, holding out his pinky finger.
"Promise?" She asked as she joined her finger to his.
"Promise." He replied with a reassuring grin as they shook on it.
(Some time later)
It was in the middle of August and both of the kids were having fun playing catch, when all of a sudden, Uraraka's quirk suddenly manifested and the pads on her fingers glowed pink as the ball started floating away!
"What the- Hey! Come back here!" The girl called as she chased after it. But unfortunately, the girl was completely unaware of the car that was swerving out of control towards her as the two went into the street after the floating ball. Izuku glanced at the out of control vehicle and widened his eyes in alarm when he saw it heading toward them!
"OCHAKO, MOVE!" He yelled as he tried to shove her out of the way of the speeding vehicle. However unfortunately both kids were hit by the car, Ochako with the very edge of its bumper and Izuku with the full brunt of the car's mass. This sent them flying and tumbling to the pavement, their little bodies terribly injured. Izuku slowly craned his head over to his friend, who was bleeding out, and tried to grasp her hand.
"O...cha...ko…" He choked out before he went limp, darkness claiming him. However, seconds later, he felt his body start to piece itself back together as life rushed back into it, but as he regained consciousness in the hands of the paramedics, he looked and saw that he was the only one there. Ochako was gone.
'No…' He thought sadly, despair setting in, tears starting to run down his face as he began to cry hopelessly.
A year had passed and Izuku had found out that King and his family had moved away after the accident, and had also found out that his quirk had evolved or "Awakened" as the doctor put it, into a quirk that gave him immortality along with his original powers.
In a way, he had gotten the immortality he wanted… But he wished he hadn't, and he hated himself for wanting such a thing in exchange for one of his best friends in the whole world…
ThermalsniperN7: … So… That's how it happened.
Dragon Emperor0: And now Izuku has a second chance with Ochako and they can look back at this summer and remember it fondly as soon to be sweethearts.
ThermalsniperN7: Yep. They can look back at it as the catalyst for their future.
Dragon Emperor0: This is just to tide you guys over until next week when the first episode of season two is set up. Time for the UA Sports Festival, baby! Booyah!
ThermalsniperN7: That has fun written all over it! I'm gonna enjoy this!
Dragon Emperor0: No kidding. Anyway guys, see you all next week!