Welcome to another chapter!
Some notes, about this chapter. This Chapter is happening on the same day as Girl's Day Out.
Another is that I'm having fun making up more cities based on different fandom for different regions. Ossus is a Star Wars reference for those curious.
Anyways on with the story!
Izuku made the impulsive decision to jump onto a train and take a trip to the more historic section of city, Ossus. Everyone else was busy so Izuku was alone. He did not mind that as the girls were having their own day out and Kirishima was hanging out with some of his school friends. Kirishima did invite him along but Izuku knew he would feel too out of place there.
As Izuku was walking around Ossus, he found himself amazed by the old-style buildings. There were many old Japanese-styled buildings that lined the streets. Every so often there was a western-style building that broke up the pattern.
There was one particular building that caught Izuku's eye. A tall church that towered over the other buildings. It was very impressive visually as it had many little arches, pillars, and other details that showed great care went into its construction. It also had large stained glass windows that seemed to tell a story. There were also a lot of potted flowers that were scattered about at the entrance which gave a welcoming vibe to the church.
As Izuku was marveling at the church and wondering what quirks might have been involved in its construction, a voice called out to him.
"Have you come to pray to the lord?"
Izuku's mumbling came to an abrupt halt as he looked down to focus on who spoke to him. The girl wore a simple white dress and her hair was made of green thorny vines. Biting back his initial desire to question her about her quirk, Izuku gave her a smile instead.
"A-ah no, I'm not a very religious person myself. I just couldn't help myself in admiring the church. Its stained glass windows are beautiful and the flowers here a lovely." Izuku scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
The girl gave him a warm smile as her eyes shined with a bit of pride.
"Our church takes great pride in stained glass windows. Besides the use of a few quirks to improve durability. The windows were handcrafted using pre-quirk techniques." The girl turned to look up at the window. "They tell of the story of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. The one on the right is about…" The girl drifted off before turning around and bowing abruptly. "I sincerely apologize. I allowed my passion for my faith to overwhelm me and began to unheedingly burden you with it."
"Oh no, it's quite alright. I was very interested in what you had to say." Izuku waved his hands around panicking a little from the surprise apology.
The girl stood up surprise evident on her face before it shifted to a warm smile.
"You are a kind person. I know my passion for my faith is unwanted by many." The girl's smile shifted to a bitter smile. "You do not have to acquiesce yourself to my rants. I do not wish to force such a thing on you."
For a moment Izuku was silent before frowning.
Stepping towards the girl and holding his hand out, Izuku said "My name is Izuku Midoriya and I'd really be interested in listening to what you can tell me bout your church."
The girl wrung her hands nervously, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Ibara Shiozaki. You really don't have to subject yourself to me."
"I'm not subjecting myself at all," Izuku said as he found a bench near the church surrounded by flowers. "I came to this part of the city to explore and learn. I can't think of a better place to learn about something than from someone passionate about their subject." Izuku took a sweet on the bench and motioned for Shiozaki to join him.
With hesitant steps, Shiozaki took a seat next to Izuku.
"You have the kindness of a saint." Shiozaki played with her dress; smoothing out the wrinkles. "If you really wish to listen then I would be delighted to share my knowledge with you." After taking a deep breath, Shiozaki began to go talk about windows again.
As her eyes lit up and her hands began to wave in the air as she talked, Izuku found himself drawn in and asking questions ever so often. It only served to further embolden Shiozaki to talk more. At one point, while Shiozaki was reciting the story that the windows depict, Izuku noted that her hair was wiggling around as she got more passionate. Izuku bit back his desire to ask about her quirk and focused on Shiozaki. This was her time to talk and he did not want to derail it.
While Shiozaki was winding down from her passionate talk, she was talking about how her family was in charge of taking care of the plants around the church.
"I'm personally very fond of the rose bush on the sides. One of my earliest memory is of them from when I was a child." Shiozaki blushed a little before turning to Izuku again. "Thank you for listening. I know that my faith and desire is an undesired topic to many, even amongst my peers within the church." With a fond yet sad smile, Shiozaki placed a hand on Izuku's hand. "It truly means a lot to me that you would not only listen but also actively engage with questions. I'm… Thank you."
"O-o-of, of course, Shiozaki-san. I know what it's like to have your passion looked down upon. I'm glad that I could be someone who you can share yours with." Izuku gave her his signature bright smile that had Shiozaki eagerly leaning forward. Before she could get too close, Shiozaki sat back returning to her prim and proper state.
"If I may, what is your passion? Since you listened to mine, I think it's only fair that I listen to yours."
Izuku scratched his cheek, "Oh, uh, I'm very passionate about quirks. I love to analyze them. In particular, I love to try to apply my analysis of quirks to heroics." Pulling out his hero analysis notebook. "For example, here is the Rabbit Hero: Miruko's analysis that I did on her quirk. A good portion of it is pointless questions. Like does the rabbit quirk allow Miruko to regulate body temperature through her ears as some dessert hares do? Or if her teeth are always growing and she regularly needs to chew on something to keep them down. Does Miruko suffer from tonic immobility that rabbits do when placed on their back?"
Shiozaki read Izuku's work over his shoulder with a careful eye as she listened to him ramble. Using one of her vines, Shiozaki flipped the page to find that Izuku did a very detailed colored drawing of Miruko.
"This drawing is beautiful. Captures a fierce yet gentle side of her. Your analysis is amazingly in-depth. I have never heard or read anything as in-depth or as interested as pushing the limit of a quirk." One of Shiozaki's hair played with the corner of the book. "I am curious, could you analyze my own quirk?"
When Izuku's eyes lit up and he flipped through his notebook to a clean page.
"There is a lot I wanted to ask you. I noticed you have very fine control of your vines. Are you able to touch or feel with them? Are you able to grow more vines than what is visible? What are your limits? Does fertilizer or certain food, either ingested or rubbed into the scalp affect the growth of your vines? Is it possible to use your vines to move yourself? Such as the South American hero, the Carnivorous Plant Hero: Flytrap who is able to cause carnivorous plants to grow into monstrous sizes and ride them as the plants use their roots like legs. It would allow you greater mobility if you're able to use your vines in a similar manner."
Shiozaki own eyes were sparkling with excitement as she listen to Izuku with rapt attention. She answered Izuku's questions when possible which only served to cause him to go on more tangents. Their debate about whether or not Shiozaki should try and grow different size vines was interrupted by two loud growing stomachs. The green heads blushed before moving to walk around the city and eat as they walked.
As they walked and eat, their conversation shifted to the historic builds that made up Ossus. From the ancient greek temple like government buildings to the towering, medieval castle that was a renaissance fairground. The streets were lined with old Japanese-style shops.
Shiozaki was happily sharing information and history about the more eye-catching historical builds as well as talking about the history of those time periods. Izuku was listening with rapt attention though sometimes the conversation shift when Izuku spotted a hero on patrol. Then the two would begin discussing the hero's quirk and its possible application. No matter which topic was the focus both Shiozaki and Izuku were all smiles. Simply enjoying the fact they could share their passions with another person.
"Midoriya-kun," Shiozaki said breaking the silence. "Thank you for today. For so long I have felt isolated from others due to my devotion to my faith. Not many look favorably upon us and even amongst us I am avoided. Today has been the first time in a while that I feel liberated from such loneliness." Shiozaki's hand folded into a prayer position. "It has been my deepest desire to follow in our savior's footsteps and save people. I wish to guide them to live a happy and just life."
"You wish to become a hero?"
Shiozaki gave a solemn nod.
"I understand." Izuku said staring off into the sky. "I wish to be a hero too. For the longest time though it was hard to believe that I could be a hero though. No one else really believed that I could."
"What? How could anyone not believe that you could be a hero? I have only known you for a day and can already tell that you have the kindness that a true hero should have."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "Thank you. That means a lot to hear. I've come to learn that I can be a hero by simply doing my best to help out with everyday stuff. But before that, well… Someone who's quirkless shouldn't think about fighting villains according to everyone else."
For a long moment, Shiozaki stared at Izuku. Her expression did not change from the serious look as her hair writhed. She broke her stillness by turning away from Izuku and clasping her hands in prayer. Izuku could not make out her fast-paced mumble prayer. He wondered if that is how he sounded when he got really excited.
"I'm am sorry," Shiozaki said turning back to Izuku after finishing her prayer and taking a deep breath. "I had sinful thoughts that I need to pray for forgiveness for. Those that put you down for your quirklessness are fools who do not understand the true meaning of a hero. You are a hero Midoriya-kun. Not because you fight villains but because you care about the everyday people. You stopped to help an old lady move a box. You cheered up a kid that lost his ball by helping them find it. You helped the man whose grocery bag suddenly ripped. Those are the actions of a hero that cares. You are a hero that I can only aspire to be."
"Don't say that Shiozaki," Izuku said shaking his head. "You're going to be an amazing hero. You helped that wife retrieve her ring from the sewer vent. You helped retrieve that kite that was stuck in the tree. You were right beside me helping move those boxes. You're just as much of a hero as I am."
"Today I was," Shiozaki admitted, "But only after you inspired me to act. In the past, I would have probably walked away and simply prayed someone would come by to help them. My understanding of what a real hero is changed today because of you. For the better, I believe."
Izuku flushed red at that and was unable to look at Shiozaki. Shiozaki for her part giggled at Izuku's embarrassment. Pulling out her phone, she held it out to Izuku.
"I would like to be able to stay in contact with you. I know you spoke of U.A. and considering I too wish to go there I hope we can take some time in the future to work together."
Izuku accepted the phone and filled in his contact info, "Yeah, I look forward to being your classmate in the future too, Shiozaki-san."
"We are friends Midoriya-kun, no need to be so formal." Shiozaki teased as she took back her phone.
"Heh heh, of course, Shiozaki-chan," Izuku said flushing a bit. "I know I told you about how I've been doing community service. If anything pops up I can let you know, if you like?"
"I would be most appreciative of that," Shiozaki said before giving Izuku a brief but tight hug. "Thank you again for today. It has been a truly fun and enlightening experience. I need to go now but please feel free to contact me anytime. May the lord watch over you and bless you."
"Take care Shiozaki-chan. I had a great day too."
As Shiozaki hurried away with a faint blush on her cheeks, Izuku noticed that her vines were wiggling again.
Walking towards the train station, Izuku smiled to himself. A few months ago it would have been a completely foreign idea that a girl that he had just met would spend the whole day talking to him. Much less a stranger. Now he was able to do just that.
Today was another step forward towards his dream.
So Izuku and Ibara met and become fast friends. Because Ibara is a side character and not often a focus of many fics I don't think I've seen much depth go into her besides that she likes gardening and little mentions of her religion. There are exceptions of course but the majority is like that. Which is fine of course, but I wanted to do something unique thus making Shiozaki a history buff. I figured that would go well along with her very religious beliefs. As for why Ibara is very self-degrading, from my understanding of Japanese society, they don't look favorably on Christianity and foreigners in general (my working theory for why the church is often the antagonist in anime). I figure that could be reflected in Ibara being a pariah and well kids are sometimes the cruelest of people.
Of course, Izuku is unable to leave someone much like him alone and thus a quick friendship is formed. Besides, it gives Izuku a nerd friend to nerd out with. While they have different main interests things tend to overlap. Something to explore in the future of course.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
PK OUT!