Chapter 8
As they continue to walk, Ochaco tries to keep her feelings under control.
This is just two friends going for a walk right? There's nothing for me to be nervous about then!
Deku interrupts her thoughts. "I t-tried some of that mochi you gave me and it's really good! If you want some you can have some. I know it's your f-f-favorite"
"O-o-oh no that was for you! Sorry it wasn't much. Hopefully next year I'll be able to get you something better" she says, starting to blush. "Not saying we have to get each other anything!", she suddenly says a little too loud.
What is my problem? Why does he make me so nervous?
She looks up at him and realizes he's shaking a little.
Is he nervous too? Or is he just cold?
"I-i-i don't mind sharing with you. your gift was thoughtful and they taste really good. I love them and I-i-i wouldn't mind if you gave me a bag of mochi every Christmas" he stutters.
He's messing with his hair nervously.
She gasps and accidentally touches her face with all ten fingers and activates her quirk. When she's about to float away, he catches her gently by her arm.
"I got ya", he says softly as they stare into each other's eyes.
"I uh.. Release", she says, deactivating her quirk and she floats to the ground.
He lets her go and they stand there for a moment. She feels her heart beating through her chest. She starts to feel cold and starts to shake from the chill. Suddenly she sees stripes of red, yellow and blue wrap gently around her neck.
"S-sorry if you're cold. I should've picked something else for us to do. I hope giving you my scarf is okay?" he asks attentively.
He finishes wrapping the scarf around her and Ochaco gently touches the gs ring of the scarf with her finger tips.
It's so soft and it smells just like him. I can't believe he's letting me wear something so important to him. He was so gentle and careful putting it on too.
She felt her face grow hot.
"T-thanks I'm a lot warmer now", she says softly
"Good, I'm glad. H-hey, we're almost there," Deku says with a nervous smile. pointing towards their destination.
They arrive at a beach Ochaco has never been to before. She looks out at the ocean. The ocean seems calm and quiet tonight. She looks over at Deku who's still smiling with a gleam of determination in his eyes staring out to the ocean.
Ochaco steps closer to Deku.
"Where are we, Deku?", Ochaco asks.
"The Takoba Municipal Beach Park. I trained and cleaned this entire beach before I got accepted into UA. T-thanks to you and a few others I was able to go to the high school of my dreams and I wanted to show you and thank you", Deku says.
He pauses and turns to face Ochaco. He looks oddly more confident than usual. Not the nervous timid boy she met the first day of school.
"Thank you for saving me that first day and many days after that. Without you I wouldn't be here right now. I should've thanked you a long time ago but I was always so nervous to talk to you. You're the first girl to ever talk to me and it's awesome but I'm still getting used to it ya know?", He says tenderly.
Ochaco feels her hands tremble. Is all of this really happening?
"But you deserve to be thanked for all you do. I'm sorry if it seemed like I didn't appreciate you especially as my friend", he tells her.
He reaches out and holds her hand slightly.
"Thanks for being there for me, for being my friend. You were the first person to show me an act of kindness and treat me like an equal even though you were way ahead of me. You took a name that I hated and changed it into something meaningful. I don't know how I could ever repay you for that. Life was a lot different for me before I joined UA but because of you I've grown as a person, a hero and I've learned what it's like to have a real friend. Without you I don't know where I would be".
Ochaco is speechless. Deku and her have always been friends but she's never known he's felt this way about her. Even if he only sees her as a friend his words touch her more than he'll ever know. She smiles with tears in her eyes.
"Do you really mean all that?" She asks, trying not to cry.
"I meant e-every word", Izuku says adamantly.
"Thank you Deku, and thank you for showing me this place, for opening up to me. I know that couldn't have been easy. As long as I've known you, you don't bring up your past that often. I definitely feel a lot closer to you now" she feels her heart flutter as she says this especially since he was still holding her hand. He catches her gazing at his scarred hand still holding hers.
"A-ah sorry about that i probably should've asked if i could hold your hand!" he quickly let's go a little flustered. "But I wanted to open up to you because you're a really important person in my life. I'm glad i did because I feel a lot closer to you too"
I can still feel where he was holding my hand. You didn't have to let it go.
"It's very calm and beautiful here. It's really admirable you cleaned this entire beach by yourself. What made you?" She asks, trying to distract herself from their hand hold.
"Well All Might thought it would be good for part of my training and a good hero takes care of the planet and stuff" he says nervously letting go of her hand.
"Wow! I didn't realize you trained with All Might before you joined UA too" Ochaco responds shocked.
"Y-yeah, he's been basically a mentor to help me control my power", Deku says nervously
"Pretty amazing to have the #1 hero take you on. You're a pretty special Deku." Ochaco says.
"Y-y-you're special too" Deku says, trying not to blush.
He checks the time. It's 10:00 pm now.
"Oh gosh it's getting late. I didn't mean to have you out so late. I'm sorry." Deku exclaims.
Ochaco chuckles, "No don't be sorry I enjoyed learning about you and seeing this beautiful beach. Plus we never get to hang out together so this has been great".
Deku smiles, "I promise we'll hang out more. You ready to head back"
She puts her arm around his and leans on his shoulder. She looks up at him and smiles back.
"Let's go!" She says happily.
Deku smiles back at her as they walk off the beach, arms intertwined.
"So are you doing anything on Friday?" Deku asks out of the blue.
"O-oh Friday? Um nothing really ya know? Maybe do some training or something", She says nervously.
I don't want him to worry about trying to make my birthday special or anything so I'll just keep it a secret.
"W-well, do you want to hang out again?", Deku asks, his face turning completely red.
"Are you sure Deku? Don't you need to train or something? I don't want you to waste your time on me—", she starts to say when Deku stops her mid-sentence.
"Uraraka, I want to hang out with you if that's okay?", Deku says, more serious than usual.
Ochaco smiles.
Why am I trying to fight him on this? This is like a dream come true and I'm questioning it!
"Yeah we can hang out. Maybe we can train together?" She says happily.
They approach the street they passed to get to the beach earlier. The Christmas lights seem even brighter passing them again. Ochaco can feel her heart soar. She's never been this close to Deku before. She's hoped and prayed for a moment like this for awhile now but never expected to be on a walk with him besides when they used to walk to the train or to school together. That stopped after they moved into the dorms. She loved this.
I want him to know how I feel about him too. I don't want moments like this to be temporary but to continue like this forever. I have to tell him how I feel.
"Deku I need to tell you something…. I-", She starts when suddenly a huge blast flings them down the sidewalk hard.
There hot chocolates are spilled around them and Ochaco thinks she hit her head during the blast. Deku isn't beside her. Where is he? Where did that blast come from? She scans the area trying to locate Deku and their attacker. She tries to stand and stumbles. She finds Deku a few feet from her but he isn't moving.
"Deku!", she yells running towards him.
No, this can't be! I have to make sure Deku and everyone in the area is safe.
"I NEED EVERYONE TO CLEAR THIS AREA! NOW! MOVE!" she yells at the few civilians left on the street.
After the civilians are cleared she runs towards Deku and her body stops like it's under someone else's control. Why can't she move? Suddenly a really tall woman walks towards her. She seems like some type of celebrity with her red sparkly dress with the slit on the leg, her makeup done and her long flowing black hair. Though there was a seductive yet sinister look on her face that Ochaco knew couldn't be good. She tries to move again but her body is fixated to where she stands. Is this the woman's quirk?
"Are you doing this? Just stop, you won't win?", Ochaco yells out.
At least she can talk but the woman ignores her and steps towards Deku.
"No, please! Just leave him alone. whatever you're trying to do it won't work", She pleas with the woman.
The woman stops and takes a long look at Ochaco. She turns away from Deku and approaches Ochaco. Only an unconscious Deku, Ochaco and the mysterious woman were on the street now.
"Oh honey, my target was only him but if you want to die trying to save him be my guest", She says in a sultry voice.
"Who are you?" Ochaco asks angrily.
"I'm just trying to take care of this problem so I can become the star I want to be," She says with a psychotic smile on her face. Her cool sexy facade begins to fade away.
"What do you want with Deku?", Ochaco asks intensely.
She feels the movement in her fingers start to come back in her fingers. Does her quirk have a time limit or is talking distracting her? She notices Deku beginning to wake up but she can't make it obvious that he is. She needs to keep him distracted until there's a clear sign of victory.
"I don't want him but AFO does", She says with a devious smile.
AFO?! This is bad… this is really bad!
The woman's full attention is on Ochaco now. Ochaco suddenly feels her energy draining and she drops to the floor. What is going on? The mysterious woman suddenly glows a bright orange with power and expels the energy force right at Ochaco and she's blasted into a nearby building and blacks out.