39

Paper wings

It was gray, that was what struck me the most. The sky refused to cry out any drops. It reminded me of her.

Of Yui.

I readjusted my shoes, gritting on the ground. I fixed my position before leaning back on the bench. It was the same train stop where we waited for Eri. Looking back on it, that was probably the happiest we got, after we finally talked about our relationship and before they found out and Overhaul.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh. I leaned forward and covered my face with my hand. "Ugh." I told her when I was leaving and yet... I looked left and right, again hoping that maybe..? The platform was empty. I dropped my head.

Until I heard steps coming from the stairs. I instantly turned my head to it, my eyes growing.

It was her. It was Yui.

"Hello, Izuku." She greeted me before sitting beside me, waiting with me.

"Yui..." My voice mixed with disappointment yet also surprised at her arrival. "Why are you here?"

"Uraraka told me, just like at the hospital." And just like at the hospital she looked up in thought before she spoke. "Maybe I am an extension of her."

"U-Uraraka did how did she even find-" Actually thinking about it, she was the only girl my mom met, so she probably told her. "I guess she still cares." I rubbed the back of my neck. I never got the chance to talk to her or Kyouka. Although Kyouka did leave a long-winded, foul-mouthed message I really don't want to read again.

"Here."

She shoved it in front of my face, "Huh?" It was a folded paper brought back to regular size by her quirk. I was a bit perplexed but I took it from her hand. I opened it up and read it.

Deku,

Thank you for helping me become the hero I wanted to be... And sorry. I'm sorry that I continued to project the idea of us onto you even though you had moved on. I should also move on, ne don't you think?

Bye Deku

And I noticed a few moist smudges of ink on the paper. Uraraka, I... "I'm sorry too." I folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I want to keep as much as mementos as I can, to keep my resolve strong.

"Will you miss her?"

I shook my head. "No... I don't think so, I mean I'll think about her now and then, I just hope we can be friends when I come back, like real friends this time."

"I see."

And that feeling I get of us being the only ones in a time-stopped world came back to me. When did she get so close? And why does everything else seem so far away? I couldn't help but ask. "Yui, can you resize time and space?"

"I wonder? Ne, look." She lifted her hand, she clenched it shut before thrusting it out with an open palm. I gulped, not believing I was about to see her use her quirk on reality.

"Joke."

I fell off the bench. "I fell for it." I groaned, before getting back up, dusting my self off and sitting back down next to her.

She leaned back, resting her head on the bench, looking up at the empty sky. She reached out her hand hoping to catch a few drops that were not falling. "Everyday."

"I actually think it would get depressing if it rained every day." I don't know how but when I'm with her it feels like any large doubts I have disappear into tiny afterthoughts.

"So?" As if saying she didn't care if it upset others.

"You wouldn't get sad?"

"No."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "No, you wouldn't would you, what would you do then?"

"Be next to you, enjoying it."

My smile dissipated, letting out a caught off guard breath. "...You would, wouldn't you." Look where she's at right now. I rubbed my hands over my knees a little on edge. "So what are you doing now?"

"Being with you."

"You are aren't you..?"

"Yes."

"You know, I'm going away for a while?"

"I do."

"Did you come to say goodbye."

"I don't believe so."

"Then why'd you come?"

"It's the same for the hospital, I don't know. Do you?"

"Yui, how could I possibly know that?"

"Because you knew what I wanted during winter break."

"Ah-... And you knew what I wanted?"

"Did I?"

"Yeah, haha, I still use those All-Might headphones whenever I work on suits, they're actually in my pocket right now and that's usually where they are."

She leaned and turned to the side away from me, reaching into her pocket. She pulled it out and grew it back to its regular size holding it with both hands. It was an All-Might doll. Then she opened it in half and inside the doll was the skinny skeleton All-Might.

My lips couldn't help lifting no matter how hard I pulled down. "Yui, do you take it everywhere?"

"Everyday."

My lips stuttered again. "Y-You do, don't you."

"I do." She put back the doll. "So, why am I here?"

Asking me for an answer she could grasp. "M-Maybe you came because you knew I needed someone to help me not run away this time."

"Do you?"

I lifted my hand up to my face hiding my eyes. "I do..." My voice cracked but I didn't care.

"Then that's why I'm here."

"...Thank you, Yui."

I didn't realize it till now but our hands were intertwined. I pulled my other hand away from my face, staring at our hands. My lips quivered and separated. It was faint but I felt her squeeze it.

And I squeezed back because it was all too heavy but right now with her it's weightless.

"Izuku?"

I spoke up with a clearing sniffle. "H-Huh?"

"Do you want to talk about us?"

And she was looking at me with those indifferent orbs of affection. Mines widened, staring back at her. After having told me no the times I've asked, she asks me now, and all I could say was, "No, Yui, I don't... Just wait with me."

"When does it arrive?"

"In an hour."

"Okay."

And we did. We held hands waiting for the train.

I didn't know how to feel seeing it approach in the distance. My anxiety was building. M-Maybe if I stay I can talk to her and we can fix it, r-right? Th-That's what she wants anyways. I-I don't need my quirk. I can just stay with-

"Come on." Yui, she was tugging at my hand, she was standing, wanting me to walk to the platform stop. "You're going to be a hero."

And she said it with no hesitation that I couldn't help but believe her. "Y-Yeah, let's go."

We were standing there as it began screeching to a halt. It finally came to a stop. The doors opened but nobody came out and I didn't step in yet. I couldn't let go of her hand.

"It's not waiting for you."

"I know."

She noticed my distress like always, she lifted her free hand up cupping a side of my face, rubbing her palm on my cheek. And it was one of the only moments where the emotions were clear in her voice. "Go, it will be alright." Purely supportive.

My breath shook but I nodded. I let go of her hand as she pulled her other away from my face. I need to do this. And I kept thinking that as I stepped inside.

"Izuku..!" And it was the opposite of her voice from before, this time it was conflicted. I turned back to her. She was on the platform and I was on the train. I couldn't stop from staring at her face, the blank expression she always carried completely broke down to reveal someone else who didn't want me to go but she knew I had to more than even I did because she's Yui.

"I'm going to miss you, everyday."

My lips parted and I couldn't help but to reach out for her. "Yui!-" The doors closed stopping me. I placed my hands on the doors, hoping they would open for some reason.

We could only stare at each other as the train began to move. And she was smiling but there was a tear in her eye.

She left me with one last act of emotion. She waved as I sped away from her life.

I took a heavy breath, sitting down and pulling out the headphones she gave me. There's no going back now.

The train rolled along, under the gray abyss of the sky as it departed from my life with her, leading to my life as a hero.

I already told you that though, remember? This is the story of how I became the world's greatest hero...