It seemed as though the entirety of Himiko's group agreed to not mention the fact that they had already been to Ochako's house. Well technically, Himiko supposed, they broke into her house and inspected every inch of it and then Himiko stole something from the mantlepiece. Yeah, it's probably better off if they just don't mention it to Ochako.
They, even Dabi, were all quite content to allow Ochako to guide them through the thicket. Himiko herself was right beside Ochako at the front of the group, along with Eri. The little girl was, by nature, slowing everyone down - though it wasn't because of a lack of effort. Himiko could see that she was walking just as fast as her tiny legs would carry her, but she just couldn't match the stride of everyone else. The congregation had gone from a quick paced, focused hustle to a sort of meandering stroll so that Eri wouldn't snap her legs off trying to keep up.
"Eri?" Ochako said, trying to get the small girl's attention. She looked up from the forest floor to let Ochako know that she had heard her, but she didn't quite meet the older girl's eyes.
Interesting, Himiko thought. She would have to investigate at a later date.
"Yeah?" Eri said. Her voice was high pitched and quiet, like a tiny little bell.
Ochako crouched down in front of Eri in order to look her in the eyes. In this position, Ochako's head only came to about the height of Himiko's waist - as opposed to only slightly shorter than Himiko's head, like it was when they were both standing. She watched as Ochako gently reached forward and brushed a stray silver lock (that had looped itself around Eri's horn) from Eri's messy tangle and tucked it behind the small girl's ear. Himiko felt a pang in her chest at the sight of such a motherly action and looked away, only to see that the rest of the group had stopped to watch as well.
"Why don't you go and walk with some of my other friends for a minute while I talk with Himiko, hm? I promise I won't be long, and I'm sure that any one of them will hold your hand." Ochako said. She had taken to brushing away a few stray leaves that had stuck to the bottom hem - if it could be called a proper hem, seeing as the poor girl was practically dressed in rags - of Eri's dress.
Eri, though, looked rather uneasy about this proposal. Her little face scrunched up - mouth pouting and forehead furrowing - and her hand tightened around Ochako's. Even from where she stood, Himiko could see that Eri's knuckles were white from the force of her grip. It was almost as if Eri was terrified that if she let go of Ochako the older girl would disappear.
Just then, the green-haired lightning wielder - Izuku, as Himiko had learned from the introductions - slowly walked forward with his (very scarred) hands down by his sides. He followed Ochako's lead and knelt down so that he wasn't towering over Eri.
"How about this: if you come walk with us," Izuku gestured over his shoulder at both Himiko's crew and Ochako's other friend Asui. "then I'll show you some cool magic tricks. How does that sound?"
Eri's face relaxed some, and transformed from scared and anxious to inquisitive and a tad bit skeptical. She still, however, had not let go of Ochako's hand.
"Can you really do magic?" Eri asked. The hand that wasn't firmly attached to Ochako's was playing idly with the collar of her rag-dress.
Izuku grinned wide.
"You betcha!" He said. He spread his crooked fingers wide and small, quick bolts of emerald electricity danced between them. Himiko thought the bolts looked quite pretty. She wished she could bottle them up and use them as cosmetic jewels like she had seen some wealthy women do.
An awestruck whisper of "Wow" left Eri. Himiko saw that Ochako was equally amazed by her friend's display, though the brunette said nothing.
"You promise you'll show me more?" Eri said. Her tiny fingers loosened more and more with each passing second.
"Of course! I'm nothing if not a man of my word."
Himiko heard Dabi scoff at Izuku's proclamation, though the scoff was quiet enough that Ochako hadn't heard.
Eri bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet in what seemed like contemplation before tip-toeing over to Izuku.
The entire group seemed to hold their breath as Eri approached them. Himiko saw the small girl tilt her head up to get a better look. Magne and Compress waved at Eri as her eyes passed over them, and everyone's face had a very open, non-threatening expression plastered over it.
Eri nodded to herself and latched onto Izuku's hand. Himiko could feel the happiness and relief pour out of everyone. They all wanted Eri to like them - even Dabi, though he probably wouldn't admit it.
"Alright, Eri. Himiko and I will be just up ahead if you need something, okay?" Ochako said, standing up and briefly brushing off her skirts.
Eri nodded, which was the only indication that she had heard Ochako speak. She tugged on Izuku's hand to get his attention. He looked down at her - on account of having stood back up again - as she said, "Can you show me more magic now?"
Himiko heard Ochako laugh softly before she turned to look into her own yellow eyes. She softly and subtly jerked her chin forwards.
And so they both resumed their trek towards Ochako's home. Himiko wasn't sure if Ochako felt it, too, or if she was just reading too far into the atmosphere, but she felt as though there was a significant tension between the two of them. Any light-hearted enjoyment that had been there before now was gone. What could have happened to warrant a "talk"? Himiko couldn't help but feel her stomach tightening in apprehension.
The silence between them was thick as they walked, and each footfall sounded thunderous. Himiko could hear everyone else's footsteps behind her, though they were much farther behind than they had been originally. They were far enough behind that they wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on her and Ochako's "talk" - with Magne being the exception, as a selkie's hearing was more advanced than a normal human's.
Himiko heard Ochako draw in a terse breath before she began to speak.
"If this is going to work," Ochako said, keeping her voice quieter than it normally would be. "we both need to work on communication."
"How so?" was Himiko's immediate, baffled response. She thought that she had been communicating her intentions fairly obviously, what with the courting gifts and all. She had also thought that Ochako had been obvious with her response to the courting gifts. She had always eaten the foodstuffs that Himiko had given her, and the big courting gift - the necklace - was currently resting against Ochako's collarbones.
A question had been asked, and a response had been given. What more could there be?
"Well for one, I never explicitly agreed to us courting." Ochako said. She turned to look at Himiko directly with a look that was a mixture of gentle apprehension and defiance. "You can't just-"
"Yes you did."
The defiance in Ochako's eyes hardened.
"When? Where in the two conversations that we've had did I agree to enter a courtship?"
"You accepted my courting gifts. That alone is an affirmative answer."
Ochako puffed up her cheeks before she huffed out a sigh. She then put her face in her hands and turned her back to Himiko. Just as she and Ochako had stopped in the heat of their discussion, the rest of the group had stopped a little ways back to give them privacy. In the silence between her and Ochako, Himiko could hear Eri's excited little squeals, and the faint sound of conversation from the rest of them.
To say that Himiko was confused would be a gross understatement. Beneath the annoyance and the confusion, she could feel a different emotion. It was one that she used to be intimately familiar with, but hadn't felt in a long while.
This emotion - this instinct, rather - had kept her safe, but now it just left a bitter taste in the back of her throat.
Fear.
She was feeling fear.
And wasn't it so odd that someone she had just met so recently could make her feel this way?
Himiko could feel herself starting to spiral, and it was as if she was outside of her body. The rapid-fire thoughts and emotions were background noise in her head while the more prominent thought of 'I'm spiralling' sounded off over and over again in the foreground.
When Himiko got this way, time held no meaning. It could have only been thirty seconds, but it was the longest thirty seconds of her life before Ochako turned around to face her again.
"Okay so, uh, this went way off from where I wanted it to go," said Ochako. She grabbed Himiko's hands from where they had been worrying in her pleated skirt. This simple, caring touch helped to pull Himiko from the ruckus of her thoughts. "I think there's been a - cultural misunderstanding.
"You said that all the things that you've gifted me have been courting gifts, right?" Ochako continued. She started to brush her thumb over Himiko's knuckles.
"Yeah?" Once again, Himiko was confused as to where exactly the other girl was going to take this.
"Humans don't do courting gifts," Ochako said, not unkindly. "At least, we haven't done courting gifts for a very long time."
"Oh," was the only response that Himiko could give.
Fuck, she thought. So Ochako really hadn't known. She hadn't understood the significance behind the food and the necklace and the gemstones and the bones. Oh fuck.
Wait, did that mean -
"However, that doesn't mean I don't want to give courting you a try," Ochako said, and Himiko wasn't so sure that Ochako wasn't some kind of mind reader. She had cut off her negative assumption with an exact response.
"Alright," Himiko said, hardly keeping the joyfulness from her voice. "so what do I need to do better?"
Ochako brought one of Himiko's hands up and brushed her lips across her knuckles where she had been brushing her thumb.
"Communication. The reason I was so upset with you just saying we were already courting was because I didn't like the idea of someone making such a big decision without my input. I need to work on it, too." Ochako smiled at Himiko. The early evening sun made her eyes shine like a tiger's eye crystal, shot through with streaks of gold. "We're in this together."