Ochako often felt like she had just been born with a deep awe of the night sky. Her love had simply always existed - it was something as constant and ever-expanding as the universe.
When she was little, she spent hours out at night. She would lay amongst the tall grass and buzzing mosquitoes in her front yard and just ache. She was too young to clearly understand what she wanted; she just knew she wanted it more than anything.
Her small fingers would reverently trace along the constellations, while one of her parents would lay beside her and regale the legends of the creatures and heroes that lived in the sky.
Her family had never been able to afford a telescope; however, a kind neighbor once let her borrow his binoculars. "For bird-watching, y'know." The moment she set her eyes on the Moon, the brightness of it burned her eyes, and she had to flinch back from the lenses. Finally, her eyes adjusted, and she scanned the surface hungrily. The craters, the peaks - all a pristine grey and white, giving off a cozy light to the beings that lived on Earth.
After that, she used to tell people that she would become an astronaut and go to the Moon. Adults chuckled and ruffled her hair. Children gave her snorts of disbelief. Stubbornly, she checked out big books from the local library and stayed up late with a flashlight, pouring over the material. She didn't understand much of what she read, but she lovingly memorized every illustration and diagram.
Then, her quirk appeared, and it seemed both so much more possible and so much more out of reach.
With her quirk, maybe she could reach the stars - but she had more important duties on Earth.
As she got older, she realized that her family was… well, poor. She noticed it slowly at first - just little things. The first sign was that her classmates would always have new school uniforms each year, with multiple outfits for each week. When she asked her parents if she could have new clothes, they looked at each other and then said something that sent Ochako into fits of laughter, effectively changing the subject.
Then, she noticed that her friends always bought the school lunch, but that was easy enough to brush off. Her mother seemed to like cooking for Ochako, so who was she to refuse her delicious sandwiches?
It was shortly after a few boys in her class had teased her mercilessly for her patched stockings and uneven haircut that she knew. Ochako had come home in tears, and her mother stroked her back as she cried into her shoulder. "Are we p-poor, Mama?" Her mother's hand paused for a heart-wrenching second, before she continued. "I'm so sorry, Ochako. I'm so sorry." Ochako pulled back to look at her face, and her stomach dropped. Her mother was in tears. Ochako rushed to console her, and they comforted each other until her father came home and swept them into a bone-crushing hug that had them giggling their worries away.
From that point on, a switch in Ochako flipped. Hours that were devoted to worshiping the night sky were suddenly dedicated to mastering her quirk. Her hopes of traipsing across the Moon faded, and she started dreaming of helping her parents on their construction sites.
At her parents' request, she began researching career paths, paying special attention to the average salary. Her heart leapt when she saw the potential income for an astronomer. She quickly scrolled down to the education requirements, and her stomach plummeted. There was no way she could afford graduate school, and she wasn't even sure if college was on the table. With tears in her eyes, she exited the web page and kept searching.
One day on a walk with her family, she witnessed a hero rescuing a girl from the clutches of a small-time villain. As the surrounding crowd cheered, she kept her eyes trained on her parents. Their eyes lit up, and they looked so much younger as they grinned and clapped. She suddenly remembered an earlier memory in a similar situation - she hadn't realized at the time, but the relief she had felt wasn't because of the hero's actions but because of her parents' reactions .
She could become a hero.
When she saw the salary of a middle-ranked hero, she nearly cried from her overwhelming relief. She could make enough money for her parents to live comfortably.
After that, she put all her attention into bringing up her grades and testing her quirk to her limits, often losing the contents of her stomach during her training sessions. She even convinced her parents to let her assist around the construction site - they only agreed on the condition that she let them buy her a pair of new sneakers. Ochako researched all the best hero high schools that Japan had to offer, and she set her heart on UA. The date of the entrance exam was circled in red marker on her calendar.
There was no time for stargazing now.
The days sped by, and before she could even comprehend it, she received her acceptance letter. It was heartbreaking, having to leave her parents behind for the city; however, she knew this was all to give them a better life. As she situated her luggage around her on the train, she stared out at the night sky through the window. She could just make out her zodiac constellation, Capricorn, above the lights of the train station. Comforted, she settled in for the long ride.
Once at UA, she made friends quickly with most of her fellow classmates in 1-A. There was one person that stood out in her mind above the rest, though - Izuku Midoriya. When she looked at him, he just… reminded her of the night sky, somehow.
His determined grin was brighter than the nearest star, and his gentle laugh made her burn with the heat of a thousand suns. His green eyes felt like black holes, pulling her in deeply. It was almost too easy to fall in love with him.
She watched his progression in awe and struggled to keep up. She met him as a kid who could break his bones with a single punch, and he quickly morphed into a hero with impressive control, precision, and power. Deku never lost his compassion, though; he still wore his heart on his sleeve and took too many risks to save people.
He was too bright to look at, sometimes.
She was determined to make time for astronomy as she studied at UA, especially after the students moved into the dorms. Most nights, after she was long spent from training her mind and body, she would climb up to the roof, make herself weightless, and just stare at the sky as she hovered. It felt like she was home.
Once in a while, Deku joined her, and they would spar under the stars. There were the rare times that he found her laying on the cement, green-faced and wobbly, and he plopped down beside her. While she caught her breath, she pointed out the different constellations, and Deku would excitedly pepper her with questions about the myths behind them. She didn't know of any constellations based on great heroes, so they created some together for All Might and Thirteen. She drew them on the constellation map on her wall and hopelessly fell more in love with him.
Still though, something about him was off. He seemed almost… larger-than-life. When she looked at him, she felt like she was trying to grasp something too great for her human mind to comprehend.
It was during the fight with Overhaul that it clicked for her. Ochako was cradling Sir Nighteye in her arms, tasked with the seemingly impossible task of keeping him alive. Deku flew past her, glowing a bright green and carrying little Eri wrapped in Mirio's bright red cape on his back. The force from his movement blew her hair back.
She helplessly watched from her position on the hot concrete as her best friend screamed in rage and pain. She knew he was going to die. He was burning so brilliantly, like a shooting star plummeting to Earth.
The battle was over in an instant, and Ochako hunched protectively over Nighteye as wind and debris rocked them. Overhaul's monstrous body had exploded with the force of Deku's punch, and the pieces were falling to Earth in a grotesque meteorite shower.
In the moment that Deku landed on the ground, she got a glimpse of the raw power and determination in his eyes. That's when she realized - this was the stuff of legends. He would become a new beacon of hope and strength. The demigods of old would bow before Deku as he made his place in history. Stories - no, epics of his feats would be written in the stars for centuries to come.
He was going to become a constellation. And she was there to witness it.
Careful to not shift the wounded hero, she slumped in awe, allowing herself this small moment of weakness. The little girl inside her with stars in her eyes weeped with joy. Her heart welled overwhelmingly, and she breathed through her nose carefully as tears dripped down her face. Then, she heard Nighteye groan painfully.
If he was going to become a true hero, she was going to become someone who was worthy enough to stand beside him.
She wiped her tears with the back of her shaky hands and gingerly leaned Nighteye against a nearby wall. Leaping into action, she caught the limp body of Overhaul and apprehended him for the police. The rest was a blur.
That night, she laid awake and listened to Tsu's steady breathing in the hospital bed beside hers. Her mind was still pounding from overexertion, and every time she closed her eyes, she saw Nighteye's blood-splattered face as he bled out in her arms. She saw Deku wailing in pain. She saw Kirishima being carried away in a stretcher, his rock-hard exterior shattered.
While the guilt was massive and overwhelming, making it hurt to breathe, she also felt a strange smidgen of hope.
She saw Mirio, fearless and optimistic in the face of quirklessness. She saw Eri standing up to her abuser and helping Deku win, her glow mixing with his. She saw Deku standing triumphant amidst the rubble.
Ochako opened her eyes and focused them on the speckles spattering the ceiling. She could almost make out constellations, if she tried hard enough. Her head swam, and she laid back against her stiff, starchy pillow with a sigh.
The next few days would be painful, both physically and mentally. Recovering from death is difficult, and recovering from survivor's guilt even more so. Still, she had wonderful people in her life who she could lean on. She knew she would survive this and be a better hero for it. Feeling less weighed down by the day's events, she drifted off into a deep sleep.
She dreamed she was among the stars.