CHAPTER 3: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
As she walked to the 1-A homeroom, Ochaco thought back to her conversation with Izuku. Almost immediately she was blushing up a storm.
'What the heck was that?' She shouted in her head, coming to a complete stop. The other students passing by for the most part ignored her, but some of them gave her a weird look. However, Ochaco at that moment was completely oblivious of her surroundings. She absentmindedly twirled a lock of her hair. 'Was that really Deku-kun…?' She wondered, reminiscing of her first encounter with Izuku at the U.A Entrance Exam.
Admittedly, while she was proud to call herself one of Izuku's closest friends, Ochaco in all honesty didn't know him that well. Not for her lack of effort, rather the time they spent together was really that short; a couple weeks at best. It just seemed much longer because of the USJ Incident…
"Right…the USJ attack." Ochaco muttered under her breath. Now that she brought it up herself, she might as well confront it. She had really tried her best to avoid thinking about it, and she wasn't the only one. For the first week or so since the attack there seemed to be an unofficial consensus not only among the students of 1-A, but also amongst the teachers not to bring up the topic of their own volition…something Ochaco was immensely grateful for.
For the first few days she barely caught a wink, terrorized by her memories of what went down in USJ. For better or worse, that day changed everything for Ochaco and her classmates — forcefully thrusting them into the world of adults far sooner than any other kids their age. On that day they learned what it truly meant to fight for everything on the line, including their own lives. What happened to Izuku especially made them painfully aware of that fact.
Just remembering the state he was in before he was rushed to Recovery Girl made Ochaco feel like throwing up. And while she was able to suppress that urge, she wasn't able to stop the tears.
It was so horrible…broken bones…his arms and legs twisted in ways it shouldn't be…the way he gasped for breath as the air leaked out of his lungs…
By the time she had noticed she was already sobbing, crouching to the ground as she hugged her chest that hurt way too damn much. The tears and snot all mixed together, with her loud wails echoing through the hallway, but she didn't care.
The chatter of young boys and girls filled the space, as they took note of Ochaco's strange condition. Unsure of what exactly caused her to break down into tears, and more importantly what to do.
Some of the more kindhearted students hesitated on whether or not to approach her, but ultimately felt it was too presumptuous of them. But most of them just stood there, staring at her with a dull expression. The thought of going to get a teacher for help just fully escaping their minds.
"Ochaco!"
"Ochaco-chan!"
Two voices pierced through all the noise. At the sound of her name being called, Ochaco raised her head up. Her eyes were really red and puffy, with snot dripping down from her nose. "Mina-chan? Tsu-chan?" She called out incredulously. "…What are you guys doing here?"
From the north-end of the hallway, the figures of Tsuyu and Mina could be seen rapidly approaching the small crowd that had gathered around Ochaco. Pushing their way through, Tsuyu knelt down beside Ochaco and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, while Mina turned to address the sea of curious students with a playful look on her face, "Because our friend here was running late for class, Yamada-sensei gave me and Tsuyu hall passes to go look for her...I wonder, does everyone here have hall passes as well?"
As if they had been struck by lightning, the surrounding students suddenly realized that they were all very late for their next class.
"Ah, shit!"
"I'm so screwed; I have Aizawa-sensei now!"
And other such curses filled the air, as the crowd quickly dispersed and made a mad dash to the classes they should have been in by now. Within seconds the occupants of that hallway were reduced to three.
'Now then, that's one problem fixed…' Mina thought to herself, as the smile on her face slowly melted away. "How about we go somewhere more private?" She quietly proposed to the two girls.
Ochaco having slightly calmed down, wordlessly nodded her head and stood up with Tsuyu's help. Under Mina's lead they walked down the stairwell and out into the courtyard, taking cover from the afternoon sun under a cherry blossom tree that had mostly bloomed. The girls sat in a semi-circle facing one another, while Mina pulled out her phone and texted Toru, informing her of the situation before switching it off without waiting for a reply.
The first few minutes passed by, with none of them daring to speak; taking refuge in the tranquility of their surroundings and admiring it's beauty.
"You…you were thinking about the USJ attack weren't you, Ochaco-chan?" Tsuyu was the first to break the silence. "…I can't think of any other reason for why'd you suddenly start crying in the middle of the hallway kero."
"…Mhm."
"It has something to do with Midoriya doesn't it kero? His wounds?"
"I…" Ochaco tightly gripped her skirt, her arms shaking, before released her hold and lowered her head. Her bangs covering her face and preventing Tsuyu and Mina from seeing her expression. But the two girls didn't need to see her face to know what she was currently feeling.
While the two of them weren't originally as close to Izuku as Ochaco was before the USJ Incident, they were both as worried as she was for his health. After all, he had saved them. He had saved them all…
"Ochaco." Mina softly called out to her friend. "Did Midoriya say anything?"
"Huh?"
Noticing her confusion, she further clarified, "When you and Iida went to visit Midoriya, did he say anything to you?"
"He…" Color slowly started to return to Ochaco's face. "He told me to tell you guys that he's doing great!" She said flexing her arm like Izuku did at that time to reassure her. "That he misses everyone, and he hopes to be back with everyone soon!"
"I see." Mina said smiling softly. "You're relieved as well aren't you, Tsuyu?"
"What are you pretending for Mina-chan, we all are kero."
"I don't know what you're talking about, bleh!"
"Is that so kero? I seem to remember a certain someone—"
"Ahh! Shhh! Don't you dare say another word!" Mina said lunging for Tsuyu, but Tsuyu rolled out the way and leapfrogged a few feet away from where they were sitting.
"Hey you! Don't use your quirk to run away!"
As she watched her friends fool around with a smile, "Thank you." She mumbled just loud enough for herself to hear.
xxx
Looking down at the still bowed figure of Iida from my bed, I wondered what the hell is going on?
I died, met the Goddess of Death, got transmigrated to a parallel reality, and now this? Fayre did say that this world is crazier than mine, but still…
I rubbed my forehead, sighing. "Iida-kun?"
"Yes, Midoriya-kun!"
Wow! Instant reply; I forgot how straitlaced this guy was.
"Um…could you take a seat first? I can't really talk to you like this."
"Right, that certainly is true." He laughed embarrassedly. I guess he was quite nervous if something like that didn't even occur to someone as smart as him.
Straightening his posture, he sat back down on the chair he used in our earlier conversation with Ochaco.
"Do you want some water?" I asked gesturing to the 'get well soon' basket of goodies on the nightstand.
"No, I'm fine, thank you. Midoriya-kun—"
"You want me to take the class president position back?" I asked him calmly, completing his sentence for him.
Iida opened his mouth, before closing it. "That's right." He finally said, staring at me with a serious expression on his face.
"…may I ask why?"
He blinked at my question, looking quite lost. As If he didn't expect me to ask that question. But isn't that the most natural question to have asked in this situation?
"USJ…" He suddenly said, as if that explained everything.
"What about it?" I asked frowning.
"You…do you really not remember anything? Is there something wrong with your head?" He said standing up. "Do I need to go get Recovery Girl?" He shouted, waving his hands about.
"Hey Iida-kun? Can I punch you?"
"What?"
"Nothing." I muttered under my breath. Well at least he's stopped panicking. "There's no need to do any of that." I said shaking my head.
"But—"
"Iida-kun, I'm fine. Really! Please, just sit back down."
He stared at me for a moment, before reluctantly accepting my request.
"Can you pass me a bottle of water?" I asked.
"Sure." Iida said, rummaging through the basket and handing me one of those nondescript bottles you could find at a convenience store.
I thanked him and twisted open the plastic cap, taking a couple of sips before setting it back on the nightstand. "Can you tell me what happened at USJ?"
Looks like we might be here for a while...
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