We're Just People Eating People (Such a Sick, Sad World We Live in Today)

"There's a division in our culture that we live with every day. We're just people eating people; such a sick, sad world we live in today. All I know is I wanna be everything expected of me. So everyone, we can agree: somebody out there understands me…"

('Turn Off the Radio' by 'A Day to Remember')

Ochako is dreaming again.

But this time, it's a new memory, a new dream. Nana has been relentless in the past day, showing her dreams new and old. Showing her things she didn't know yet - things about little Izuku and little Kacchan, things about little Izuku and little Shouto - and things she always knew but was afraid to see. Things about her, little Ochako and little Izuku, and the things that were supposed to be and never were.

The things that might be yet, if she can grab hold of his hand in the dark and never let go.

Now, though, she stands on a skyscraper. The sky is clear and bright and sunny and she looks around and basks in the glory of its warmth. She has been so cold for so long but now, she is warm. She knows that warmth - she smiles, not bothering to look down and see how she's wearing her Hero costume - and she turns to see her.

To see Nana, standing on the skyscraper with Ochako, her white cape billowing in the wind. Nana smiles, pulling it up with her index fingers covered by yellow gloves, and Ochako giggles silently into the daylight.

"How are you feeling, Ochako?" Nana asks, as if she doesn't know the answer already. But she's still smiling as she drops her index fingers and so is Ochako.

It's nice of her to ask.

I'm doing well, Nana. I… I feel a little better now.

Nana takes a step towards Ochako and turns, then they both look out over the expansive cityscape. This is a memory that Ochako doesn't recognize - she wonders, is it her memory or a phantom memory, a memory that should have been hers? - but it's still beautiful. The sun is high in the sky and the city looks so peaceful.

But there are hints, the tell-tale signs that the peace is a lie: the way there are smoke plumes rising here and there, the occasional glimpse of a police car she sees going down the roads below with lights on, and the way that the stillness of the air doesn't just feel like the dream. Ochako turns to Nana, an unspoken question on her face, but Nana doesn't return the look.

She never has to return the look because she always knows. But she's still smiling, like she's in on a joke that Ochako doesn't understand yet and it's the funniest joke she's ever heard.

"You remember, right? I told you that you'd always be each other's Heroes?" Ochako nods. She will never forget. Nana points up into the sky and Ochako follows her finger's direction and squints. "There you are. You're falling… and you're falling together, like it was always meant to be."

And she sees it; she sees them. Little Ochako is falling fast, back-first, and adult Ochako can't see her very well but it's clear that little Ochako is battered and hurt from the way her profile is missing a boot. And there's another figure there, falling fast - falling faster - and she sees him reach out.

They take each other's hands and, abruptly, they are no longer falling. Ochako begins to cry at the sight as the dream provides: they stopped falling because of Zero Gravity and Float, together.

"You still have a chance to make things right," Nana whispers to the side, but Ochako is too enraptured by the sight of little Ochako and little Izuku, suspended in the air of infinity and feeling so happy. Their happiness radiates through the dream like beauty and light, so Ochako cries. "But that's up to you, Ochako. Only you can make the choice to be there for him… or not."

Ochako finally tears her gaze away from the sight of what never was and what should have been to look at Nana with blurry eyes, trying to find the words she's too afraid to say.

What is the right thing to do, Nana?

Nana doesn't smile but amethyst, cloudy lightning flares around her for only a moment. The lightning of her One for All, a sword made to destroy, a blade to slay the beast.

A beast that Ochako did slay, with Izuku at her side.

"I don't know what the right thing to do is," Nana admits sadly. "I only know that I want to see you both happy. Please, find your happiness, Ochako… Find it and hold on for dear life."

"Find home."

And like that, Ochako feels like she's falling through the fabric of reality itself as she wakes up. When she does, she feels like she can see beautiful gray eyes staring right into her soul.

They are full of love.

Ochako woke up because her elbow slipped off of her knee.

She almost fell forward off the chair she had been dozing in, barely catching herself with Float to avoid crashing right into Izuku on his cot. She breathed deeply through her nose, trying to get her bearings as she looked around.

She remembered… She had carried Izuku over to the bed and got a wet hand towel to clean off his forehead. But she had sat down heavily in the chair, swearing she would rest only for a moment, and then…

Ochako turned and looked at the clock. It was just after three in the morning and she stifled a groan. She had been out for at least half an hour then, so she forced herself to stand from the chair. It would be even worse if she fell back asleep at this point.

Not until things were put back together, at least.

She finally got to take her headband off and winced because she could tell how grimy and filthy her hair was. Her headband collapsed into a nice little rectangle, then she stuffed it into her chestpiece compartment. Then, one-by-one, she deactivated Melissa's advanced armor sections and they collapsed into little rings that sat on her wrists, her ankles, and her neck.

That left her with only her bodysuit protecting her feet but at least the safehouse was carpeted. She walked over to the sink and turned it on, waiting patiently for the water to go from frigid to warm. Then she splashed herself in the face with the water, trying to keep herself going.

The hideout was… small, mostly. There was a tiny living space with a kitchenette in the corner and a cot along the wall. That was where Izuku was laying, though it seemed to be the only available sleeping space at the moment. There was a coffee table and two chairs and a tiny bathroom with a stand-up shower through a doorway to the side.

The room was smaller than even her first apartment had been when she started at UA but… it would do for now.

The first thing she did, once she was sure that she wasn't going to fall asleep again, was head over to the bathroom. She had to go, so she took the opportunity to take her bodysuit off. It collapsed into her belt with a white glow, the same way the armor collapsed into the little rings, and it would fix itself while it was collapsed that way, at least.

She took the belt and the rings off and left them in a corner on the sink while she did her thing. Then she unceremoniously jumped into the shower and only regretted not waiting a little bit when the water started out freezing. She was definitely awake now.

The soap that was left there was not particularly great but it was better than being covered in grime and dirt and her own blood and Izuku's blood, and the thought made her shudder as she scrubbed herself clean. She went over herself three times, trying to get the feeling of what had happened off as much as the dirt itself. She also washed her hair twice, though by the time she was done, the hot water had drawn back down to lukewarm.

She got out and toweled off the best she could, then checked herself in the mirror. Wiping away the steam, she saw that she looked awful. Her face was haggard, she had eyebags, and her eyes were so dim from their normal chocolate brown. Her blushmarks, usually bright and visible, were now entirely gone and she frowned at herself.

It was striking how quickly things could go bad. How quickly things could change.

She put her belt and the little rings back on and reactivated her bodysuit. It enveloped her in a bright white glow, then she checked and made sure the rips and tears were gone. The armor and suit were self-cleaning, so she silently thanked Melissa and Mei. She was fairly sure that, without them, she would've died years ago.

Then she walked back out into the little room. Izuku hadn't stirred at all, which was probably good. He needed the sleep. She smiled at him, a small and distant thing, then walked over to the fridge.

She was a bit wary of what she would find. Looking carefully, most of the food was expired or unappetizing. She knew someone had been in this place before - there was the distinct smell of cigarette smoke and she briefly wondered if that had been Dabi - so she decided not to trust anything in the fridge. Instead, she started rifling through cabinets and found some canned soup.

She pulled out two cans and shut the cabinet door, and that was when she realized there was no microwave. Looking through more cabinets, she found a pan at least, and there was a small stove top to work with. It was sufficient for the task. She was used to making do with less, at any rate.

She hummed quietly to herself as she made soup. The canned soup was something hearty and chunky - a cream-based soup, according to the label - which was good. She was starving and she could only imagine Izuku would be even hungrier when he woke up. The memory of him admitting that he didn't eat properly flicked through her mind and stopped her humming for a moment as she frowned.

Maybe she would make three cans of soup.

It took about fifteen minutes for her to cook both cans of soup she started with and deposit them into some disposable bowls she found. Grabbing two plastic spoons, she brought the bowls over to where Izuku was and gently sat down in the chair, pulling it slightly away to make space. Then she set the bowls next to her on the ground, one on each side, and just… sat there for a moment.

She looked carefully at him, watching the way his chest rose and fell as he slept. He looked so peaceful, more than she had seen him in the last day, even if he was dirty and his costume was partially destroyed.

She had observed him a lot while they were stuck together, probably more than was reasonable, because she wanted to understand him finally. She wanted to understand what motivated him and what he wanted from life, she wanted to understand what had been taken, and…

She wanted to understand how to save him, if she could. For a brief moment, she heard the rising voices of the Bearers again as they continued their debate without her. She looked up to the ceiling and glared, thinking about the Second and Third Bearers specifically and daring them to speak to her in that moment.

The voices went silent.

"Deku… Hey, Deku?" Ochako said gently, tilting her head back towards him as she did. He stirred and she saw him scrunch his face up and… honestly, he really was adorable.

He looked better in green, though. She hoped he changed that back, though that was a distant consideration in the face of more important things.

"Deku," Ochako repeated, and Izuku finally stirred awake. She watched him blink quickly, his eyelids fluttering, then he focused on her. He smiled like she was his whole world and it was a pleasant and beautiful thing to watch. It made her feel… warm. "I made you food."

He blinked a few more times and watched as Ochako picked up a bowl and held it towards him. She leaned back slightly to make even more space for him as he carefully sat up and adjusted himself on the cot. Swinging his legs, he sat up sideways on it and carefully took the bowl in his hands. He held it in his lap and she watched him just… stare at it for a few moments, as she picked her own bowl up and began to eat.

"It isn't poisoned," Ochako deadpanned, and Izuku looked up to her with a pout. "I could fix that, though, if you wanted."

"Very funny," he said, and he finally took a bite. "Thank you for…"

He trailed off and she inferred that he meant to say 'for the food' and 'for everything' and probably other things, too, but she just smiled. She understood just fine without him saying anything because she had been inside his head now and he had been inside hers. In the true infinity of One for All and All for One, she had seen his entire life in a moment, then more after that. The life he had, the lives he could have had, the life he should have had, and the same for herself as well.

Suddenly, she could understand why Nana was so goddamn cryptic all the time.

"You're welcome," Ochako said, then for a time they ate in silence.

If she looked awful, he looked even worse. He had all kinds of bruises, marks, and small cuts and she was so caught up in studying them that she was a bit surprised when he looked up at her again. He had been looking at his food as he ate but he seemed quite startled to find her gaze so intense.

He raised an eyebrow but Ochako just smiled softly. He wouldn't understand, yet he also probably already understood.

"You'll need to shower, then I can help clean and dress your injuries," Ochako said matter-of-factly. Izuku looked thoroughly confused.

"I could just heal them…" He pointed out.

"And make yourself sick? Don't be silly," Ochako said immediately. "You need to eat more food and sleep, then…"

She paused, blinking slowly, and realized that she hadn't planned that far ahead yet. All the confusion and disorientation about what the hell she was actually going to do from last night came roaring back, so she stared blankly at Izuku without seeing him as she thought.

It wasn't until he cleared his throat that she refocused on him and noted that he looked completely mortified, his cheeks lightly dusted with pink.

"And then I guess I'll tell them that I killed you," Ochako finished, and Izuku turned redder and looked aghast.

"You'll what?" He asked.

"I'll tell them I killed All for One," Ochako said, changing her wording for clarification's sake. Izuku opened his mouth to protest, then shut it again as it dawned on him what she actually meant.

"There's no way that flies," he pointed out. He took another bite of his soup after he said it and looked away from her, shyness on his face. She had already finished eating, so she just rolled her eyes at him.

It was curious, yet wonderful, to finally see the real him. Something she'd only seen glimpses of before but now it was like she had thrown open a door instead of staring through a keyhole.

"I don't see why not. Technically, it's the truth, isn't it?" Her question came out more like a challenge, so Izuku choked on his food.

"I… I guess. That's a very philosophical way of looking at things, though…" Izuku said, but Ochako just laughed.

"After what we've seen, that seems entirely appropriate," she pointed out. He didn't verbally challenge her but he did make a little huff of amused annoyance. She watched him finish his food - and took minor pleasure in how flustered he seemed at that; not necessarily in a bad way but it was very funny - then took their bowls and threw them out in the trash in the corner.

After that, things proceeded in a very quiet way. Izuku went to shower and she could tell, as she watched him retreat into the bathroom, that he was in a lot of pain as he moved. He was in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes before he called through the door that he needed help.

He was so small and clearly humiliated when she entered, then he admitted in a tiny voice that he couldn't get his clothing off. In a way, it was embarrassing, intimate, and a kind of closeness that they had never had, yet she found she didn't mind. But also, it was necessary and there was no sensuality or sexuality to helping him undress.

He was hurt - hurt quite badly, as she saw the large bruise that had blossomed across his right arm from where he broke his fall and the cuts and bruises and even burns he had across his upper body - and he needed help. It was a stark, simple reality of being a Hero to help him with it and Ochako found she wasn't particularly confused or bothered by that.

Maybe she was just too tired. She did count the scars he had, the faded memories of battles past, as they went, however. He had so many scars, so many of those faded memories, and that hurt her in a deep way. They were a whole story that she wasn't there for - couldn't be there for - and it broke her heart a little to see.

Izuku was more than a little flustered. But he also didn't say anything and, slowly, he began to relax, at least as much as he could with how much pain he was in. She realized he was comfortable and he probably felt safe with her now and that felt far more intimate and close than the actual act of touching.

His bodysuit peeled off slowly, and he kept wincing and hissing in pain, but eventually she got him free of it. She never looked at any part of him that she shouldn't have and, when he turned to look at her - his face scarlet - she just looked right at his eyes and asked him if it was okay to leave him now.

He was still embarrassed but he smiled and nodded, then came out of the shower twenty minutes later wearing a towel and looking much better. She dug around in the room in the meantime and found a small trunk with some clothes in it. It was a mixture of men and women's clothes, so she sort of guessed at what size Izuku would be and gave him some of the clothes that seemed appropriate.

He ended up wearing a baggy flannel jacket over a sweatshirt and some sweatpants. He looked comfy when he sat back down on the cot and she made him another bowl of soup. It was… suitably domestic, despite how absurd it all still distantly felt.

Despite her protests, he ended up using his quirks to heal himself, at least a little bit. Enough that the rest could heal naturally without worrying about infection or things not going back the way they should. Ochako had scolded him for that but… at least he would be okay or so she hoped.

By the time he was done and had laid back down on the cot, it was close to six in the morning. Ochako sat back in the chair next to him and contemplated what the hell she was going to do. Sitting there with her elbows on her knees and her hands folded in a prayer-like stance in front of her face, she rested her forehead against her fingers and sighed. What was she going to do with Izuku Midoriya, now that they were out of the fire?

They might have been out of it but they were still right at the edge and she had sounded much more confident than she really felt when she told Izuku her plan.

Part of her, the part conditioned by years of training and fighting and running away from the reality of what Nana had told her, wanted to just turn Izuku in and accept the way things were. The worst part was that she knew he would understand and, on balance, he probably wouldn't even blame her. He thought so little of himself that he would think it was the right thing to do.

She still remembered when she had been given One for All and how she had received the vivid dreams from Nana Shimura about the little boy without a fate who was meant to be the Ninth Bearer of One for All. The little boy named Izuku Midoriya, who she had always felt a little bit like she had stolen from. She had stolen his fate, stolen his power, and left him careening in the dark where All for One trapped him.

She had always run away from that reality because it was too deep and frightening to consider. But now she had actually gotten a hold of Izuku and pulled him out of that dark and she had never thought about what would happen after this point.

How could she save someone who their superhuman society adamantly declared was beyond saving?

Or, maybe more importantly: should she?

But Nana spoke then and her voice was like love from within as Ochako began to drift off to sleep again in the chair.

You didn't steal his fate, Ochako. I chose you so that you could save him.

And you did.

Thank you.

When morning came, Ochako walked alone into the nearest police station.

From there, everything exploded. The station's phones rang off the hook and, on the news, the reporters talked non-stop about how Uraraka Ochako, Uravity, the Symbol of Hope, had been found. How she was safe, how All for One hadn't been able to snuff out her flame, and how the nation had waited with bated breath to see if their Hero would return unharmed.

Ochako looked out the window of a helicopter as she was brought to the primary regional hospital, a few hours later, and thought about what they would say if only they knew the truth. The whole truth and the real truth. The truth about who Midoriya Izuku was meant to be.

Would they still be cheering on his death? She knew that the answer was yes and that was the saddest part to her.

She saw doctor after doctor with healing quirks when she reached the hospital. They put her in a hospital gown and kept shining lights in her eyes, checking for concussions and residual effects from trauma. They scanned and scanned, looking for any trace of damage from All for One, any internal issues, anything.

They didn't find anything unexpected for someone who had been moderately crushed under a skyscraper. On balance, she was in pretty good shape - considering she had been stabbed - and, eventually, the doctors left her alone. By the time she was allowed to put her costume back on and take another shower, she felt like she was ready to just sleep for the rest of the year.

Bakugou was there at the hospital, laid up for his broken bones and internal damage. He didn't take the news of All for One's 'death' well and Ochako wasn't sure if that was because it made him sad or because he wanted to be the one to kill All for One. She considered that maybe he felt both at the same time and she contemplated visiting him.

But the two of them had never gotten along and she knew he wouldn't want to see her anyway. It wasn't like she wanted to see him, either, especially after what she'd gone through in the last day.

Instead, she sat down slowly in the waiting area of the hospital, sinking into the chair and vaguely hoping it might swallow her up. Detective Tsukauchi would be picking her up soon for debriefing, so she would wait.

Maybe she would read a magazine and pretend like things in her life were normal and like she wasn't this close to falling apart in the lobby. She felt the hot sting of tears but she couldn't cry here, not in front of-

"Ochako?"

Ochako snapped her head up from the little coffee table, her hand hovering over one of the magazines, and found Shouto standing there. He looked a bit worse for wear, wearing a hospital gown and with his right arm in a cast and a bandage stuck to his forehead. He gave her a little wave with his left hand and she blinked several times in confusion, gaping like a fish.

"Sh-shouto! You're okay!" She almost launched herself out of the chair, planning to give him a hug, before her brain reminded her that his arm was in a cast and that would hurt. That left her halfway out of the chair like a dork, so she carefully sat back down, feeling like a fool. "You're okay, right?"

"I'm pretty good," he deadpanned as he walked around the coffee table and sat next to her. "It's not as bad as that time that I crushed Bakugou's hand in that exercise in our second year."

"Oh my god, Shouto, he was fine. He just cried about it like a baby, that's all."

Shouto gave her a small smile but he wasn't looking right at her. He was staring vaguely in front of her and she realized he was looking at her left hand, with how she had her arms draped over her knees as she leaned forward. She straightened her posture slightly and tilted her head at him in a silent question, then he cleared his throat as he came back to reality.

"Are you okay?" Shouto asked as he refocused on her, and Ochako nodded slowly.

"It was… It was tough," she said, blowing air out of her mouth with a sigh as she spoke. "It was… really tough. But I'm okay."

It was a lie but she wasn't sure if she was lying to Shouto or to herself more.

"Did you get him?" Shouto asked, and she rolled her eyes at his choice of metaphors.

"I… I did, I guess. He died protecting me."

It was an interesting lie she had chosen, a lie that was not a lie, yet it was a lie all the same. Shouto stared at her for a moment, his expression perfectly blank and his mismatched eyes distant. Then he held up his left hand and looked at it as she watched the smallest frown cross his face.

"Do you know, when you got there, what he had said?" Shouto asked. Ochako shook her head; she hadn't heard because her radio was down by that point in the fight. "He was going to take my quirk and I… I was glad. I was afraid but a tiny part of me was glad because I felt like it might be better that way." Shouto clenched his left fist. "And he said to me, 'You know, Frostfire, I wish I'd been born with a power like you were born with. I could've been a great Hero, just like you are.'"

Ochako gasped. Shouto turned to her with sad eyes.

"For a moment, he was crying. I was so stunned that I wasn't ready for it, when he lunged for me. But I… I don't think he was lying and that's the worst part."

She knew how much Shouto struggled with his quirk and what it meant to him in relation to his father. It was one of those things that very few people knew in the class. Shouto was only really close with Ochako, Tenya, and Momo and it had taken him a long time to trust and to let them get that close. It was one of those things that was off with the world; that was what Nana said but now Ochako looked at Shouto and thought:

Maybe this small part of the world isn't so off anymore.

"I'm sorry, Shouto," Ochako said. Shouto just hummed and dropped his hand, then blinked at her like he'd been lost for a few moments again. "But I'm glad that you're okay."

Shouto pursed his lips, lightly biting the bottom one, and Ochako understood that, really, he wasn't okay. She wasn't okay, either, though, and that was okay.

They could be not okay together.

"So," Detective Tsukauchi said as he sank into his chair across the desk, "let's start from the beginning."

He raised his right hand and made a little twirling motion with an index finger. Ochako sighed as she sat down, too. She spent too much time in his office; it was a given, since he was one of the few people who knew the truth of One for All.

Well. He knew most of the truth, anyway. Enough to keep things moving, at any rate.

For a moment, she looked at a framed photograph on his office wall. It was of her in her third year at UA, wearing a PE uniform and smiling brightly for the camera. Toshinori was there in his awful yellow pinstripe suit and Tsukauchi was on the other side, wearing his normal detective outfit for work. It was right after her third Sports Festival, the one that she took first place in, and both men were smiling with her.

Ochako wondered if they really could have been as happy as they looked in that photo when there was something missing from their lives.

"We were fighting," Ochako began, coming back to reality, and Tsukauchi nodded. "In the middle of the fight, the government sent fighter jet cover. I almost had him, I… I had him in my hands, Tsukauchi. But I hesitated and the missiles came, then… everything fell apart."

Detective Tsukauchi pursed his lips, nodding again. Everything was conforming to what they knew already so far.

"So… we were trapped in that hole for… a long time, who the hell knows. We had watches but it didn't… really matter." Tsukauchi frowned but didn't interrupt. "I was… I was hurt very badly. I was impaled on a piece of rebar. And… All for One healed me."

"He did what?" Tsukauchi blurted out. Ochako frowned at him, knowing that he knew she was telling the truth. He closed his mouth and motioned apologetically with his hand for her to continue.

"He healed me. And… for a while we just sat and talked. We took turns sleeping and trying not to die from the cold. Then I turned my emergency beacon on and I guess you all… started blasting?" Tsukauchi nodded but he was scowling; she guessed that was not his favorite idea in the world. "A pipe burst down there and, um, we were going to fix it so… so we didn't die from the space filling up with water."

Tsukauchi sipped on his coffee as she spoke. She drilled holes in his desk with her eyes, trying to focus on the next part because it was the most important part.

"All for One… He was hurt when another blast came. He was dying and… I killed him. I killed him so he wouldn't have to die slowly, then I ran and… I collapsed. I was just going on instinct and, after I woke up and got my bearings, I found the police and went there."

Tsukauchi set his coffee down on his desk harder than was necessary. It sloshed a bit at the edges and a thin line of brown ran down the side. He was staring intently at her when she met his gaze but she was defiant.

She dared him to challenge her, lie-detecting quirk or not.

"You're lying," he pointed out. "But not entirely. What… He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No," Ochako said firmly, flatly rejecting his implication, and she saw Tsukauchi visibly relax because at least that part was true. "No and… All for One is dead."

Tsukauchi squinted at her, disbelieving.

"That is true… but I've known you long enough to know when you're lying either way, Uraraka. How the hell does that work?" He asked, and she realized he was genuinely dumbfounded. He didn't know how to grapple with the way her statement was a lie. Yet, metaphysically, it was true.

"Tsukauchi, did you ever meet Nana Shimura?" Ochako asked, and she watched his eyebrows fly up to his forehead.

"Not personally, no. I heard a lot about her from All Might, though. Why?" He replied, and Ochako chuckled.

"I killed All for One," Ochako repeated insistently. "And if… you trust and respect me - not personally, not professionally, but as the Ninth Bearer of One for All - you won't… ask me to explain to you how or what happened, ever again."

Detective Tsukauchi stared at her for a long time before replying. Distantly, she wondered how lukewarm his coffee was by now. Her own coffee sat untouched where she had placed it on the desk. It was probably frigid and she shivered as she thought about the time she spent in that hole and how frigid it was there, too.

"Alright," Tsukauchi said. "As long as… you're sure. Are you really, really sure about this?"

"I have never been more sure of anything else in my life, Detective."

It took a long time for her to come to terms with that. It was only the afternoon of that day she'd spent in the hospital, the next day after she'd spent a day with All for One, the man who would be king, yet it felt like forever. She spent every moment she wasn't talking with someone thinking and considering and trying to decide what she wanted to do with her life now and what she wanted to do about All for One.

Moments spent staring out the windows of moving cars and helicopters, moments spent staring out the window at the hospital, and moments spent in silence with Shouto in the lobby area. He said little after their initial conversation but he was there.

He was always a good friend. It was a pity, really, that he had never had friends before he came to UA. Just like Izuku, he was the boy who deserved better, who had deserved so much more than what he had been given before. But at UA, Shouto was given a chance to have friends - to have a better life - and that was something that had been denied to Izuku.

So Ochako had made up her mind as to what she planned to do.

"If you're sure… then I'll put in my report," Tsukauchi said. Ochako didn't smile at him because she didn't have the energy for that. But she did nod firmly as she stood, then she tensed for one moment standing over his desk as she thought about it.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" Ochako asked, and she knew it wasn't a fair question. Tsukauchi couldn't possibly know the answer to that, yet she so desperately wanted to know his answer.

He stared at her and she watched him swallow, clearly recognizing that this moment was important to her but baffled as to why. She wondered if he felt Nana there with them like she did; her presence was overwhelming, a mixture of sorrow and warmth together.

"I think you always try to do the right thing," he settled on saying. Ochako swept her gaze over him one last time and nodded again, satisfied with his answer.

She left his office then, her coffee untouched and cold just like her heart.