Chapter 59: Love
Izuku and Nejire sat across from one another at a lattice metal table, one of three set up near the vending machines in a seating area by school windows.
Nejire took a sip from her drink, her legs crossed over the bench. Her skirt was already a bit too short, and through the metal lattice of the table, Izuku could see almost the full length of her bare pale legs. He swallowed and kept his eyes up. I can't believe this is happening right now! His heart was racing. How had he gotten himself into this situation?
"So," he said, coughing shortly, and setting his own drink down. "I assume you managed to break up the fight."
"Yeah," Nejire answered with a sigh. "Those two are Miyazawa and Inohara. They have a really old rivalry. I managed to get them to come down by convincing them to enter the Quirkless sparring competition that one of the second-year classes is hosting for the festival today."
"Hmm? But, weren't they using their Quirks in the hallway…"
"Yeah, I suppose they usually spar with those. I believe Miyazawa's exact words were…" Nejire made a faux-serious face, forcing her pretty features to droop into a frown. "If it is my loss, it shall not count. We will not be at full power." She made her voice deeper, and then giggled.
Izuku looked down at his drink. "It must be nice to have a rivalry with such chivalry, huh?" he said, thinking of Kacchan.
"Oh, but don't you and the Todoroki boy have something like that? I remember the sports festival fight between you two, that was crazy! I was super curious about your Quirk after that, because most people's bodies account for major drawbacks to their Quirks. I mean sure, mine takes a lot of stamina from me, but I'd never seen someone with super strength so powerful that it breaks their bones!"
Izuku laughed, his eyes sweeping to the left. "Yeah, well…that's why I'm here. I needed the training. And it paid off…"
"That's for sure." Nejire took another sip of her drink. "You wouldn't have been able to demolish Chisaki like that without it. Although, I suppose you did have some help from little Eri."
"Oh, speaking of which…" Izuku shifted himself on the bench, took a deep breath, and forced himself to look her in the eye. It was incredibly difficult. He could already feel his cheeks heating up as well. How can she look at me with such a bright, expectant face? It was adorable.
"Eri is coming to campus today for the festival. Sir Nighteye will be with her, but I think Togata-senpai and I are gonna take over for a bit when we have the chance. To show her around, I mean. Did you want to maybe tag along?"
Was it just him, or did a bit of the light leave her blue eyes in that moment? If it did, it was back in a split second. "Me, come along? I knew Eri would be coming, I heard it from Mirio, but…" She took another sip. "I feel like I might be imposing. Am I imposing? I know Eri is a timid little girl, and when I tried talking to her before, I think I overwhelmed her…and I know I can be overwhelming; I just want her to have the best time possible, and if I'm there possibly putting her on edge then she won't…"
"Nejire!" Izuku interrupted her. His mind had spiraled into a more and more intense panic listening to her ramble, until it had manifested out through his mouth. Is she insecure about such a thing? "You are not imposing. I know Togata wouldn't mind one bit if you tagged along."
"Well, you know him as a bright and happy guy, but if he told me about it and didn't explicitly invite me…"
"I'm sure it just slipped his mind. You know how he is. Listen, Nejire." Without realizing it, he was leaning forward, staring her right in the eye. "This festival is already going to put Eri on edge anyway. That's sort of the point. We want her to step out of her comfort zone a bit, and end up enjoying herself. It's the first step toward her healing. She will already be on edge, at least at the start, so…your presence will not add anything to that, even if what you're saying is true. Which, by the way, it isn't. You aren't overwhelming, just energetic and happy. If anything, it might be infectious for Eri. So really, I want you to come." His eyes widened, and his hand almost flew up to his mouth to cover it. He stopped it at the last second. Did I really just blurt all that?
A blush spread across Nejire's face, not dissimilar to the one she'd had when he'd first recklessly invited her to have this drink. She giggled a little. "My, Izuku," she said. "Is that why you wanted to sit and drink with me after all? You knew I'd be an asset for little Eri? You know, I'd heard that you were quite a strategist. Always telling people about their Quirks, and how to turn what they felt were drawbacks into advantages. But now I'm seeing it for real. You're making my heart flutter, you know."
"Well, it wasn't just…" I should shut up now. Shut up. Stop talking. Stop it. You don't know what you're getting into! "It wasn't just for Eri, I mean…I…" STOP. STOP. AAAAH! "I mean that I want you to come."
Welp. He'd said it. And finally, finally, his eye contact had broken. He felt like his face was reaching the boiling point of water. How pathetic must I look right now? I'm probably just another one in a long line of nervous goons who's tried to get close with her…I mean, look at her, she's stunning.
Two hands came forward across the table, and rested on top of his.
Izuku lifted his head. She was looking at him with a serious, piercing gaze. Dead in his eye.
"Izuku," she said, in a voice he'd never heard from her. "I need you to tell me the truth. Did someone put you up to this?"
That…was not the question he had been expecting. "Huh?" he asked, baffled. "What do you mean? No."
His confusion must have been so obvious that she believed him on the spot, and she sighed, relaxing and leaning back away from him. His hands immediately felt cold when her touch fled them.
"Good," she said. "Good. Well, in that case…" Suddenly, her mood brightened, and her lips lifted upward. "I'll come along then!"
"Really? ...Great!" Izuku smiled too. Although, he was still a bit confused…what did she mean by, did someone put me up to this?
The old him might have just kept such a thought to himself, let it stew around and let it eat at him…but he was not that person anymore. He was the person who'd recklessly dived into a chaotic situation and saved a little girl from the clutches of an almost insurmountable evil. I'm going to ask her. I'm going to ask her right now because I want to know.
"What did you mean by someone putting me up to it? You mean, as an effort to include you?" He couldn't see why that would be the case. Nejire had plenty of friends and couldn't possibly be lonely, but it was the only thing he could think of.
Nejire had a strange, sweet look on her face. Her head tilted, and her eyelids went halfway down, as if she was looking at an especially cute puppy. "Oh no, Izuku. I meant, like…oh…it doesn't matter…" She quickly picked up her drink and took another sip.
Izuku felt frustrated. She's treating me as an innocent boy. Even if she doesn't think she is, she is. That's annoying. "It does matter," he insisted. "I want to know. Because you seemed very serious about it."
Her eyes widened. The blush on her face grew just a little, and she seemed to come to a realization, her mouth opening with a small gasp. Izuku wondered what was going through her head.
"Well…erm…" she seemed unsure how to begin. "In the past…right. Izuku. You probably think that I get asked out by a lot of guys, huh?"
He did not deny it fast enough. She sighed. "I thought so. Everyone thinks that. And that's the problem, I guess. Because everyone thinks I get asked out a lot…the reality is actually quite the opposite. I've probably been asked out the last of every girl in the third year hero course."
"Really?" he blurted. It was just so surprising, and he did not quite understand.
She nodded. "Among all the guys, there's this idea that I…that I'm unattainable, or that it's not worth it to try, or…I don't know. I've let quite a few crushes just slip by, expecting them to ask me out, when they never did…they all think I'm unapproachable."
"Huh? You're one of the most approachable people I know!"
Nejire smiled sadly. "Is that what you thought when you saw me at lunch that one time, surrounded by my friends?"
"I mean, I…" he shut his mouth. She had a point. Here I go, turning red again.
"The only times I've been asked out were last year, by first year boys, now second years. They were all betting each other or tricking each other into doing it. None of them were serious. And, I know you have a person, or maybe a few people that might mean you harm, so I couldn't help but wonder…if you were being blackmailed or something…"
"What? Blackmailed to ask you out? If by a person that might mean me harm you mean Kacchan, he would never do something like that, even to me. I'm asking you because I want to. I asked you for this drink because I wanted to." As he was saying these things, convincing her, he was convincing himself as well. I deserve this. I deserve to do things because I want to do them. I am not a Quirkless loser; I am Deku, the hero. And I have already saved lives.
Such a pure smile spread across her face in that moment, that his heart felt like it skipped at least a dozen beats. "Thank you, Izuku," she muttered. "I'm sorry for not trusting you. I was remembering the stuttering boy, and finding him hard to reconcile with you being so forward…when I should have been remembering the boy that beat Chisaki single-handedly. And…to be quite honest, I know the mood was wrong, but if you'd turned away from Overhaul's unconscious body right at that moment and asked me out then, I might have said yes." She laughed wryly, closing her eyes. "You'll have to forgive me. I'm afraid I'm a hopeless romantic girl at heart."
Izuku's head was spinning. Was this real right now? Had he really woken up for festival day yet? Was he dreaming? She's liked me for that long…truly? Or at least, had an interest in me…enough of an interest to say yes if I asked her out…
One more step. One more step of confidence.
"So, hypothetically, then…" he swirled his finger around a piece of the metal lattice in the table. "If I were to…hypothetically speaking, break away from Eri and the others for a bit during the festival, and…hypothetically, invite you along so that it'd just be the two of us for a bit…"
"Yes," said Nejire, her voice fluttery. "Yes is my answer."
Izuku sighed. For some reason, all the heat in his face had fled away…and consolidated into warmth, warmth in his chest. When he looked her in the eye now, it wasn't from a reckless fit of confidence. In a split second, it had changed…those blue eyes of hers had become a place of comfort. It was almost frightening how it had turned on a dime.
"One thing, though," she said. "My class 3A is doing a fashion show of sorts. Or maybe exposition's a better word? I've volunteered to model some of the support course's designs. It's going on for most of the day, but I'm only needed at 1:30 and 3:00."
"That's fine! 1:30 and 3, you said? Huh." Izuku paused for a moment.
Suddenly, Nejire smirked. "You want to come and take a look? Some of the outfits they'll be having me in are pretty revealing."
"Ah! I mean, no! Well, I mean…uhh…" He coughed. "You know what? I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Ah…oh." She closed her mouth, her blush returning for a second.
They both laughed warmly, breaking the tension. For that moment, Izuku was utterly, completely content. For maybe the first time in months.
And then…the alarm sounded.
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! RETURN TO YOUR DORMITORIES AT ONCE! THERE IS A POTENTIAL VILLAIN THREAT ON THE BOUNDARY OF CAMPUS! REPEAT, RETURN TO YOUR DORMITORIES AT ONCE!"
Nejire gasped. "Huh?"
Izuku's heart plummeted. He jumped to his feet, One for All coursing green lightning through his body without his permission. A villain? Where? Or could it be a press scare, like that one day at the very beginning of the year? But no, that had been a diversion for Shigaraki and USJ…
He looked out the window, toward the trees on the edge of campus. He couldn't see anything. The alarm still blared.
"Izuku." Nejire's voice, behind him. "We need to go."
He turned. She was holding her phone up to him. Playing on it was video footage. News footage, from outside the UA gate.
"Is that…Shiozaki?" The vine girl from Class B was fighting a tall bearded man in a waistcoat, who seemed to be bouncing off of barriers in the air…
Izuku gasped.
His very own classmate Sero had come hurtling into the video frame, bloodied and bruised and furious, knocking the villain away, pushing him toward the woods…
The bottom scrolling banner on the news report read: GUARDS AT THE GATE: TWO UA HERO STUDENTS FIGHT FURIOUSLY TO PROTECT THEIR CAMPUS FROM VILLAIN.
"Oh no," Izuku muttered.
Out the window behind him, a pink light burst forth from the trees.
…
I love you, thought Ibara Shiozaki. She told him I love you.
This was her only coherent thought as the wave of pink energy swept over her and Sero, taking them both off of their feet.
For a moment, she was flying through the air, her sight and hearing completely overwhelmed. Then, she slid against the packed earth of the forest floor, and screamed in pain. She felt her elbow get scraped, and then her knee, and then felt something sharp cut across her forearm. Finally, she came to a stop.
Immediately, Ibara got up, trying to ignore the pain…just in time to see Sero strike hard against a tree, and slump to the ground.
"NO!" she shrieked. No, no, no, not again. Wasn't this his second injury in just a few minutes? That was bad, very bad. Blood was leaking down off his forehead. His eyelashes flickered over sleepy eyes. When she ran to him, he murmured, "Shiozaki…"
"You'll be okay…" she murmured to him, leaning down and moving the hair out of his face. It was stuck to his skin with congealed blood. "Sero, we'll get you to the school and we'll find Recovery Girl…you're gonna be fine…"
"I would suggest that as well," said Gentle Criminal.
Ibara looked up at him. He was standing upright in a clearing of trees, twenty yards in front of her. La Brava was perched on his shoulder like a bird, clinging to him. And his body was wreathed with pink light.
"She won't…" La Brava whimpered. "She almost killed us last time. She won't flee."
"Still, it would be in her best interest." Gentle was talking to his partner as if La Brava was not there. "Girl, I acknowledge your strength. However, I have just received a powerup beyond your comprehension. You have no hope of stopping me here. I would suggest retreat. If not, things may end up bad for you friend there."
Lost and despairing, Ibara's eyes darted back and forth between the glowing Gentle and the injured Sero.
"You…" she breathed. "You'll let us go?"
Gentle nodded. "It's a shame to have wasted La Brava's Quirk so, but if it convinces you to turn away, then it will have been worth it."
Her Quirk…did she strengthen him by confessing her love? What were the implications of that? Would his power make things even more bouncy now?
The villain's hair was standing on end. His arms and legs seemed to course with power. His stance was like a wound-up spring, ready to pounce. Ibara felt less and less confident by the second.
I have to give priority to saving a life, right? She looked back at Sero, still slumped against the tree.
Then…the boy lifted his head almost imperceptibly, looked at her out of the eye that wasn't swelling up, and shook his head once.
A shiver went up her spine.
"This…is your forest…" he croaked, only loud enough for her to hear. "Not his."
What do you mean? she wanted to ask, desperate. That I should protect the plants? No, that's absurd.
I should…I shouldn't back down from protecting the school. I can't show this villain my back. All those people out there think UA is weak. I have to prove them wrong!
"Sero," said Ibara Shiozaki. "Stay behind me."
And she lifted her fists.
Gentle's eyebrows went down in a sad expression. "A mistake, my dear. La Brava, do not interfere."
His partner nodded, terrified, and jumped away, pulling a tiny computer out of the bag on her back and unfolding it.
Is she hacking the security system? I can't let that happen!
Ibara plunged her hair into the ground, meaning to send it under Gentle Criminal and toward the retreating girl. Gentle whirled. He will try to use his Quirk on my vines again, when they come out. She got ready to move them aside and dodge, but then…he suddenly turned back.
Ibara gasped.
A MASSIVE bouncy barrier came billowing out of his hand at astonishing speed. In a split second, he'd jumped up onto it. It was angled toward her. He bounced off it, still glowing pink…and hurtled toward her at high speed.
His right fist came around. "You asked for this!" he roared.
Blocking will do no good he's too powerful he'll punch right through like Katayama did at the sports festival and I…
Ibara sent out her vines behind herself, and wrapped them around a high tree branch. Right as Gentle arrived, she yanked herself upward by her hair, pulling up onto the branch, dodging his attack.
Slumped to the side, Hanta Sero watched her, and grinned.
Gentle's glowing fist slammed down into the ground where she'd been, and the dirt beneath him gave way, oscillating in waves of elasticity that spread out from the impact. He immediately snapped his gaze up, locating her instantly, and made another massive platform beneath his feet in an instant, leaping up to her.
Ibara retreated, sending her vines out to a different tree and pulling herself sideways, away from him. Got to circle around. Circle around and stop La Brava.
He landed on the branch where she'd been a second before…and it snapped beneath him. For a moment, Gentle was falling, but he flipped in midair, pushed his feet back against the trunk of the tree, elasticized it, and gave chase right toward her.
Ibara swung up behind the branch her vines were attached to, backflipping. Pain snuck up the roots of her hair, but she ignored it. He will keep chasing me; I have to delay him.
She continued to swing up and around forward, meeting Gentle in mid-air. She kicked out with her boot, planting her foot square in his face. It was like kicking iron; the pink energy seemed to shield him. She panicked and quickly tried to retract, but he reached up and grabbed her leg, flipping her over in midair…and then he lifted up one arm.
"GENTLY SANDWICH!"
Out from his hand grew a stack of air barriers, compressed together thickly. He swept his arm downward, and they were pushed against her, slamming her down to the forest floor.
Ibara felt the wind get knocked out of her as she hit the ground hard. The barriers bounced against her, not hurting too badly but pressing against her chest. No, I can't…she gasped for breath, her vision caving in. I can't…breathe…
Gentle jumped down onto the top of the barrier stack, and his extra weight caused the whole thing to fluctuate against her. Her vision caved sharply, and she nearly blacked out, crying out from the pain of the pressure.
"As you can see, there is no lasting long against me in this state," he said. "La Brava and I will succeed. Please cease your senseless struggle. I don't want you to die."
Ibara was on her back, her hair against the ground. Quietly, she sent it downward into the earth…out from under the barriers…and then back up behind Gentle, the vines snaking high into the air, reaching his level.
Then, she moved them forward, and wrapped them around his throat, closing them.
"Aah…GAAAH!" Gentle fell backward, clawing at the vines as they constricted his windpipe. It was more effort than she'd ever put into anything before, but she used her hair to lift him off of the barriers, and then, with her last bit of strength, threw him away toward a tree.
Panicked, she slid herself out from under the barriers. Since they were bouncy, they gave, and she could escape. Her legs shook beneath her as she tried to stand.
Gentle snapped through one tree, then another. Her hair having released him, Ibara pulled it all back to her.
The third tree he reached…he turned over, and bounced off of it. Then another, then another. Ricocheting toward her again. Regaining his composure.
Sitting ten yards in front of her and slightly off to her right was Sero. He was still smiling, although she didn't even know if he was conscious. She looked at him, and felt a sudden rush of emotion like she'd never felt before.
I have no strength left. Gentle survived that and is still going. That means…that means…
I have no choice but to attack.
Ibara focused all her hair toward one point again, like a drill. Gentle bounced off one last tree, and made his final charge toward her.
He's going too fast to dodge.
She sent her vines hurtling out to meet him in the middle, and they slammed into each other, pink light reverberating outward in a percussive blast. She felt immense pressure pushing back up the roots of her hair, begging her to give, to retreat. But she did not. Ibara stood her ground, digging her heels into the mud.
"You…insolent…" Gentle's face and body were being covered slowly by snaking vines in mid-air, the pink light glowing around him. He forced his arm upward toward her vines…and used his Quirk.
Her hair began to oscillate, the elasticity traveling up it once again. He'll expect me to cut them off again. But she had no plans to.
As the elasticity arrived, Ibara gripped her own vines in her hands, and whipped them downward.
The oscillation traveled back toward Gentle, and by then the vines had completely grown around him, so when they whipped down, he went down too. He slammed into the dirt, kicking up a great cloud of dust.
Ibara quickly detached her vines, and took off at a run after La Brava.
The woman had short legs and had not gone far. Up the winding forest path, she was stumbling in a panic, tripping over her shoes. Ibara could see the end of the treeline up ahead, where the woods gave way to the grass plain leading up to UA's buildings.
Ibara sent the last of her vines out toward La Brava, wrapping her up and pulling her back. "Got you!" she said.
"NO!" the woman shrieked, crying and bruised. She beat senselessly on the vines as they dragged her across the ground. "NO, stop, please…" she dropped the laptop she'd meant to use for hacking the security system, and it went tumbling into the undergrowth.
Behind Ibara, Gentle Criminal stood.
With a great, angry snarl, he flexed the vines off of his body, bursting them apart and scattering them away. Then, he began to dash forward again. "LET GO OF HER!" he screamed at Ibara.
Ibara kept pulling La Brava toward her, but she turned her head around to face Gentle, and sent the other half of her last vines that way, trying to stop him. A useless defense. He'll break it. And after that he'd finish her off. She could fight and fight and fight, but her body had already passed its limit. She was running on fumes, and knew it. This was her last effort.
But maybe not someone else's.
If this pair of villains can power up in such a way, then so can we!
The thing she was about to say had not even graced her mind before, but when it came, it sounded more right than any other thought she'd ever had.
"HANTA!" she called desperately, as Gentle Criminal closed the distance. "I LOVE YOU!"
Gentle slid to a stop, his eyebrows raising in alarm and shock.
Then, two lengths of tape came hurtling from behind him, wrapping around his wrists and pulling him back.
Hanta Sero stood up from the tree, anchoring himself to Gentle, half-using the man's weight to pull his feet upward. His black hair fell over his face, casting a shadow of determination. Beneath it, his eyes glinted. And his grin widened.
"I love you too, Ibara," he answered, and her heart soared to heaven.
Her own vines reached Gentle, and wrapped around his torso, while Sero's tape pulled at his wrists from the opposite direction. They held him in place together, while Ibara continued to pull La Brava back toward her. The four of them had formed a long string, pushing and pulling at itself.
But Gentle's arm strength was winning. He was dragging both students in toward him simply by flexing, their feet skidding across the ground as they tried to pull back. "I wish it had been someone else," he said. He was clearly meaning to sound sad, but a desperate panic was dancing in his eyes. "Anyone else beside the two of you, and it would have been easier…love? Truly? You both wound me, break my heart. I would love nothing more than to wish you a long and happy life as heroes together, but unfortunately, your school will fall. I-"
A pink gas came billowing out from the underbrush behind him, mixing with the pink light, and then completely overtaking it. The glow around Gentle faded, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He swayed, and then plummeted to the ground, unconscious. In an instant, all the resistance against the tape and vines disappeared.
La Brava cried out. Ibara lowered her arm, shocked.
Midnight emerged from the trees, her hand still on her torn sleeve as her knockout gas billowed out. "Got him," she declared.
Ectoplasm and Hound Dog came out behind her. The former ran to Sero, who was staggering, blood dripping off his face. "You'll be okay," the clone hero husked, supporting the tape user by the shoulders. He created one clone to hold the boy up from the other side. "You'll be alright. We're taking you up to the school…"
Hound Dog descended upon the unconscious Gentle and picked him up, an angry snarl on his face. Ibara pulled La Brava the rest of the way into the clearing, and then released her vines, wilting in complete exhaustion.
Whimpering, La Brava crawled up to Hound Dog. "Have mercy…" she croaked. "Please…"
"You attacked our school and nearly killed two students!" the hero barked angrily. "There won't be any mercy."
Midnight walked up to Ibara with concerned eyes. "Shiozaki, are you alright?"
"I'm…" Ibara swayed. "I'll…be fine…"
Midnight's arms were there, and she fell into them, her eyes closing without her permission. Her body had given up.
"You did so well, dear," the woman murmured. "You did good."
That was the last thing she heard.
…
Sorry for the longer gap in chapters, and sorry for the shortness of this one (relative to the other recent chapters that is). I could have added a couple more scenes but they wouldn't have served as a good stopping point.
I'm back at college now, which is the main reason for the long wait. Expect the unexpected. Updates could come quickly or slowly.
Thanks for your continued support.