Chapter 18: Settling In
The rain sloshed against their newly made house, as Izuku and Asta sat in their living room book nook. Asta was reading the manga version of Goku's story. According to Ichigo, everyone here had a book, manga, anime, comic, or TV show made about them on other worlds. It was weird to think that some read Izuku's life story and thought it entertaining.
Izuku didn't think his life was all that interesting in the first place—sure, he had some struggles but he was just a hero. Asta didn't know what manga, anime, comics or TV was, so he was pretty fascinated by the manga. Meanwhile, Izuku had been reading Naruto and Sasuke's notes. The two had arrived way before their wives and being them, they had traveled together to try to figure out how this afterlife worked (and subtly trying to find a way out of death, but of course, there was none). They didn't get too far.
It was pretty fascinating, the things the two ninja found out.
"It doesn't rain in the towns in order to let the people not be stuck inside," said Izuku.
"Well, yeah, considering most of us aren't the type to sit still, it makes sense," said Asta, chuckling.
"I wonder who runs this place," said Izuku.
"God?"
"Hmm, probably, I guess, it depends? Didn't Goku say something about Grand Kais or Xeno," Izuku asked.
Asta tapped his chin in thought. "Yeah. So, there's some Vice-Captain type that'll be in charge…."
"Or a middle manager type," said Izuku. Izuku sighed. "I have plenty of time to figure it out."
"And you will," said Asta, encouragingly.
They went back to reading their respective books. Izuku focused so much on the writings of Sasuke and Naruto when Asta stood up to make dinner, he barely registered it.
When the smell of fried chicken wafted into the room, Izuku looked up and realized that he no longer heard the pitter-patter of rain. Izuku stood up and stretched. He headed to the kitchen to help clean-up, even if Asta knew his way around the kitchen and kept things clean. Asta plated the food when Izuku entered.
"You're done already?"
"Yeah! Let's eat outside on the porch. I like the after-rain smell."
"Good idea."
After dinner, they didn't go for their normal walk since the ground was bound to still be wet and neither wanted to risk hurting themselves when they didn't know the area well enough. Instead, they drank after-dinner tea and sat on the porch. It was a good call to build a covered porch. Izuku never had the luxury of having an actual house even when he was Japan's Top Hero.
He lived in an apartment with his mom and then the dorms at UA. When he went Pro, he and Kacchan shared an apartment. Neither were ever home. Izuku and his childhood friend/rival/best friend/secret keeper spent more time crashing on the cots at the hero agencies than at their shared place. Izuku knew it hadn't been a healthy habit, being a workaholic but there was always someone to save, someone to protect.
"You're sighing," said Asta, knowingly.
"Just thinking."
"Aren't you always?"
Izuku nodded his head and said, "I realized that this is the nicest place that I ever lived. And that I never had a good work-life balance when I was alive. I think I missed out on a lot. Did I tell you that I was late for every one of my friends' weddings? Every time. I always felt so bad when it happened, but they'd just laugh it all off as such a "Midoriya thing" to do."
Asta winced. "I nearly missed my senior squadmate Finral's wedding because I was fighting devils at the Diamond-Clover border. I missed my friend Mimosa's wedding ceremony, but showed up for the reception. And then I fell asleep during Finral's daughter's baptism after staying up for two days to get paperwork done so I could go. And since I was dead, I missed Noelle's wedding! God, that sucks."
Izuku smiled, sympathetically. It was nice to have someone that understood. "It's weird that being dead gives you some insight on how we lived our lives."
"Hindsight will only drive you crazy," said Asta. "What's done is done. What we can do now is just take this rest as something that we deserved. It's the only way I can think about it."
"Yeah, guess you're right, Asta," said Izuku, sighing lightly. "Kacchan is gonna be so mad when he comes here."
"Yuno and Noelle too," replied Asta, with a small grin. "I hope that it's not for a long time."
"Me too."
As always, let me know what you think!