Ochako took another shuddering breath. It was over, why was she still trembling?
Class 1-A was spread out in front of the USJ while police officers and medical personnel milled around, assessing wounds and taking statements. A sense of chaos still reigned among the students despite Iida's efforts to get them into some semblance of organization. Briefly Uraraka pondered that he would make a good class representative. But that was the only thing that really registered in Ochako's mind - she could barely hear over her racing heart and ragged breathing.
She was startled into awareness, though, when something dropped onto her shoulders, not alarming, but unexpected. She blinked at the orange blanket that now covered her shoulders, then at the boy who stood in front of her.
"I'm sorry to startle you, I tried talking to you earlier, but you weren't responding. You were going into shock." He smiled slightly, running a hand through a forest of green hair. Off in the distance an explosion sounded, a sure sign that Bakugou was fine. The boy in front of her flinched, but he wore an expression of… recognition? Ochako's mind was too addled to properly decipher the boy in front of her.
"You need to sit down, let's go over to the shade," the boy suggested, pointing to the right direction. It was a little cluster of trees that would simultaneously provide shade and block her from the sight of others. It was also still within the boundaries of where they could go, making it the perfect haven.
Maybe the boy had ulterior motives, but Ochako got the sense he was giving her privacy to deal with her emotions, and she was grateful beyond words. It was also hard to believe that this boy could have anything but the best intentions.
At first glance he was around her age, and pretty plain-looking. His hair was messy, and freckles were liberally sprinkled across his skin, but his eyes were a deep green that for whatever reason felt incredibly comfortable to Ochako. She found herself looking into them, blaming it all on the shock.
He situated her comfortable on the ground, seemingly not noticing her attention. "Does anything hurt?"
Thinking for a moment, Ochako shakily raised her right arm. "I did something to my wrist. I don't know if it's broken."
The boy gently took the appendage in his hands, gently rolling back her sleeve. "I'm an EMT, by the way. I'm not just some random kid. Your wrist isn't broken, it's just a pretty nasty sprain. Give me a second and I'll…" The boy trailed off, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he procured a fabric bandage, expertly wrapping her fingers with nimble fingers, his lips silently moving. Ochako once again found herself fixated on him, fascinated. As he worked, his face grew more animated, more defined, and it was like she was looking at a completely different person.
When he was finished, Ochako gingerly moved her wrist. "Wow, it almost doesn't hurt at all. Thank you!"
"It's no problem. It was also probably unnecessary, someone like Recovery Girl will probably heal it in a matter of seconds," the boy mumbled. "Does anything else hurt?"
Ochako smiled with a false brightness. "I'm fine."
She expected that to be the end of things, but it wasn't. Midoriya cocked his head to the side, looking at her intently. "But you're not."
That made her reel in shock. Most of the time when Ochako's world was falling apart and she insisted everything was fine, everyone believed her - including her parents. She was always fine, that was how she dealt with life.
"I know it seems easier to pretend everything is okay and just deal with it alone, but it's not. That's actually something I just learned recently. You just went through something traumatic, you can admit that you're not okay. I don't think any less of you," he said, that kind smile laced with untold emotion.
Against her will, Ochako's eyes filled with tears. Before her mind could stop her, she threw herself at the boy, needing to be near someone that was alive. "They wa-wanted to kill us," she sobbed, wiping her tears with the orange blanket. It was only slightly scratchy against her skin. "There were so many of them, and they were all ready to kill us."
"You're safe now," the boy murmured. "They're gone now and your whole class is safe."
The two stayed like that for a while longer, Ochako sobbing to a total stranger. Finally she pulled away, once again wiping away her tears. He smiled at her, a kind smile that he clearly had no idea of how beautiful it was.
"Little Midoriya, stop flirting back there," an energetic voice called before a police officer appeared between the trees. She was tall with long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, and piercing orange eyes.
The boy immediately shoved himself backwards, his face instantly burning bright red. "Saito, I wasn't f-flirting," he stammered. "She sp-sprained her wrist."
Saito's lips quirked up in amusement. She had observed Little Midoriya for a while before she announced her presence. The whole time he had been totally concentrated, probably not even noticing that the person he'd been helping was a girl. He had handled her emotions like a pro, better than some seasoned cops Saito knew. But now that the poor boy was done, it had registered that a cute girl was sitting in front of him, and little Midoriya was about to mentally shut down.
Taking pity on him, Saito said, "Go on, Little Midoriya. I need to get her statement, so you can go and-"
"No!" the girl nearly shouted, grabbing the boy's arm unconsciously. "I mean… can he stay? I just… He's comforting."
Izuku obediently sat down next to the girl, face still warm. He studiously didn't look at her- he didn't think he could meet her eyes ever again, especially not after Saito's comment.
"Remember, this is all confidential, Midoriya," Saito said seriously. "Okay, let's start with you telling me your name, and then you can tell me what happened today."
"My name is Uraraka Ochako," she said, swallowing thickly. "I… It was a surprise, we came to the USJ for rescue training with Mr. Aizawa, Thirteen, and All Might."
Saito noticed how Midoriya winced at the mention of the Number One Hero, and filed the information away for further investigation in the future.
"Before the teachers could tell us what to do there was this weird black mist, and then villains came out of nowhere - there were so many of them. All Might and Mr. Aizawa held off most of them while Thirteen tried to get us out, but the warp gate villain got us and sent us to all different parts of the USJ. I got sent to the earthquake simulation, and there were so many villains. I was there with Tokoyami and Ojiro. Together we stared alive until All Might took care of the big black thing and we were all saved. The hand guy and the mist guy got away though," she said with a frown. "I wasn't very close to the action, so I don't have anything very helpful to say."
"Everything is helpful," Officer Saito said with a kind smile. "I think I'll go find this Ojiro and Tokoyami so I can have all of your statements together. Come along and assess their injuries, Little Midoriya. If they're who I think they are, then they haven't been seen to yet."
When he checked her over one more time, Ochako assured the boy that she was mostly fine now, and she was. But for whatever reason when he left, she found her eyes following the boy instinctively, feeling the slightest bit bereft. Something about the boy fascinated her, and she didn't even know his name.
He chattered about Ojiro to the police officer. Apparently the strange EMT knew one of her classmates? Ochako herself didn't know Ojiro very well, he was one of the more quiet members of the class. He was kind and respectful, but quiet.
Sure enough, the strange boy spoke with Ojiro comfortably as he disinfected a few scrapes, even drawing a laugh out of the other boy. Ochako hadn't known Ojiro very long, but she didn't think she'd ever seen him laugh.
What had the police officer called him? Little Midori? It fit, with eyes and hair, but Ochako doubted it would be helpful in finding the boy again.
After seeing to Ojiro and Tokoyami, from what she could gather, the boy left to report back to Mr. Aizawa. Ochako would never have been able to pick him out if she hadn't been following Midori's destination. He was only briefly slowed when All Might laughed, flinching at the sudden sound. He ducked out of sight, to Ochako's sadness.
"Do you want me to take a look at that arm, dear?" Recovery Girl asked, startling Ochako out of her observations.
The girl unconsciously clutched the wrist to her chest, taking comfort in the bandage wrapped around it. "The EMT cleared me. If it bothers me tomorrow I'll come see you. Right now I'm sure that others need you more.'
Recovery Girl nodded, glancing at the bandage wrapped around her wrist. "He's a capable one, it seems, Efficient too. I'm of half a mind to give him some medical field training. A highly unusual boy."
A/N: We're changing things up a little bit in this chapter with Uraraka's perspective! I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. To clear up a little confusion from last chapter, Izuku didn't finish all of high school, he only finished the first year. There are programs that you can be enrolled in high school and college simultaneously, which is what I had in mind for Izuku. As always, comment! Let me know what you liked, what could improve... And in the meantime, hopefully the new chapter will be soon!