AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews!
Maximum Rhapsody - I'm not really going to be focusing on other schools, and I'm not doing any crossovers. At most you'll see expys show up in the story, much like Celica was. As for your other questions, they will be answered in time as the story continues.
Runecrafter - Stars of Destiny was actually a placeholder name for a crossover story I am working on with Glow in the Rain. If you want to read it, it's called Chasing the Comet's Tail and it's posted over on AO3
After recovering from the tumultuous news, the three settled into a comfortable routine, and the next several months passed swiftly. And as time passed, they began spending more time together, often spending their Sundays doing homework together and listening to Melissa's latest tales from UA.
When it was time for Izuku's birthday, they had a quiet evening together, watching Izuku's favorite movie – a story about All Might, of course - and enjoying Inko's homemade Katsudon, before they journeyed out to their beachside overlook. There, they noticed their progress as more and more of the sandy beach had been revealed and found a new reason to celebrate when they discovered their view of the beach would be restored soon.
As much as they would have liked to do more, his birthday fell too close to final exams, which took up the bulk of their time as all three studied their hardest to get good scores. Instead, the girls promised Izuku that they would celebrate properly after exams. And when the first day of summer arrived, they fulfilled their promise.
When Ochako got to the apartment she opened the door and stepped inside, not even bothering to knock. As she glanced at the shoes, she saw Melissa's boots already sitting there, telling her the older girl had already arrived.
"Guys, I'm here!" Ochako announced as she bent down to remove her shoes.
"Hey Chako!" Melissa called out from the living room. "Good timing, we're just about set up on our end!"
As Ochako made her way to the living room, her eyes went wide. There, in the middle of the floor, was a Gamestation X. That wasn't the part that surprised her. However, instead of stock controllers, Ochako saw three cables continuing to the coffee table, where three arcade sticks sat.
"What are those?!"
"Arcade sticks!" Melissa said happily. "I didn't have room for them in my apartment, but since Izuku agreed to let me store everything here, I had them shipped over from I-Island!"
"Normal controllers aren't good enough?" Ochako asked incredulously.
"Nope!" Melissa smiled proudly. "Not for today!"
"Do I want to know how much those cost?" Ochako examined the controllers, looking at the solid metal bases and polished metal buttons.
"Well, I did some of my own custom work tuning them but…" Melissa mentally converted the cost in her head to Yen and internally winced. "...No, on second thought you really don't want to know."
Ochako carefully maneuvered through the living room, deftly avoiding all of the wires as if they would bite her if she got too close, and sat down on the couch. "This feels so fancy, like we'll be playing at an arcade!"
"Yep!" Melissa smiled. "I've got the regular controllers if space was a problem, but since Izuku's got the room I wanted to go all out!"
"Melissa already said we can use them if we want while she's gone," Izuku explained.
Ochako stared at the setup in awe and wonder as her brain traveled back to the small arcade in Nabari. She was never able to play the games there, they were too expensive and even if she did have the spare change she would rather put it toward a book or movie instead. But she wasted hours watching others play those games, eyes wide as the flashy graphics danced across the screen. Thinking about the two games in her bag, she wondered if she could find used copies of those arcade games at the mall.
"That sounds amazing!" Ochako blurted out, before her blush spread as she looked at Melissa. "Only if you're ok with it, of course!"
"Of course I'm ok with it," Melissa gave the other girl a bemused smile. "It's not like I can take them with me, and I'll be busy enough as it is!"
"I'm jealous you're getting to go to the I-Expo," Izuku admitted. "It sounds so cool!"
"It really is!" Melissa's face lit up in excitement. "Seeing all the wonderful support gear and meeting heroes from all over the world!" She closed her eyes and let out a dreamy sigh. "Star and Stripe will even be there, and Dad will let me tag along when he meets with her!"
"You sound like you have a crush on her~" Ochako teased.
Melissa's face began to heat up as she looked at the younger girl. "What, are you telling me you don't have any celebrity crushes on heroes?"
"Eep!" Ochako felt her face heat up as Melissa stared at her. "I-no!" Ochako blurted out. "It's not something I ever really thought about before!" She said quickly.
"Oh," Melissa's face turned a darker shade of red.
Panicking, Ochako's eyes darted over to Izuku as she tried to think of some way to salvage the situation. "I bet I can guess Midoriya's though! All Might!"
"What?" Izuku shrieked.
"Eww!" Melissa cried.
As she watched her plan backfire, Ochako felt her face heating up. "I'm sorry!"
An awkward silence filled the room as the three stared at each other red-faced until Ochako started laughing. Nervously at first, and then her laughter turned genuine before Melissa and Izuku joined her. "We're all hopeless, aren't we?"
"Yeah…" Melissa let out a longing sigh. "ANYWAY! It's going to be exciting, and I'm glad I can still make go even though I'm now living in Japan."
"It sounds like so much fun! I wish I could go and see all the international heroes," Izuku said, his voice laced with longing.
"Maybe once you're a hero student you can join me?"
"Really?" Izuku's eyes went wide.
"Mhm! You too, Ochako."
"Wait, me too?!"
"Why wouldn't I invite both of you? You're both my friends!"
"But isn't it for heroes and isn't it expensive and-"
Melissa held up her hand, interrupting the other girl. "Don't worry about that! Most hero schools have programs to send a few Hero students to the expo each year, and if that doesn't work, my dad's company can pay for the trip!"
"You'd do that for us?" Ochako stared wide-eyed at the older girl.
"Of course! There's no way Izuku'd say no, and I wouldn't leave you out," Melissa smiled warmly at the other girl.
"I- thank you!" Ochako leaned forward in an awkward bow, earning an amused chuckle from the other girl.
"That's what friends are for, right?" Melissa turned toward Izuku. "And I promise I'll take lots of pictures to send to you while I'm there! A video call might be hard to arrange with the time difference but I could stream a tour of the expo hall for everyone."
"That'd be amazing!" Izuku's face lit up at the prospects. "I'd love that!"
"Yeah! I'd like the chance to learn more, too!" Ochako said.
"I'll see what I can do then," Melissa smiled at the pair. "But that's for tomorrow, time's wasting and I've been waiting a week to play this!"
"Play what?" Ochako asked curiously.
Melissa reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of Brilliant Silvergun. "This released in the middle of finals and I've been dying to play it!"
Ochako looked at the box curiously. It showed a lonely spaceship hovering over the planet earth. "What kind of game is that?"
"A shooter! Specifically a Bullet Hell!" Melissa declared proudly.
"Bullet Hell?"
"The screen's gonna be full of projectiles we have to dodge," Izuku explained. "I've never played them either."
"They're my favorite!" Melissa said as she walked over to the machine and inserted the disk. "Normally I'd play it by myself and go for a high score, but playing together sounds more fun!"
Returning to the couch, she grabbed Ochako by the shoulders and shoved her off the couch so she was sitting in front of a controller before she sat down between the two. Smiling, she pressed the button to turn her console on and selected the game.
"Normally I only play with one continue," Melissa explained as she went into the menu and turned up the difficulty to maximum, "But I'm going to turn on infinite continues for you two, so you don't have to worry!"
"Maximum difficulty?" Izuku asked hesitantly.
"There's actually one more, but I've got to beat the game twice on one credit to unlock it. That might take me a few tries, but I'm up for the challenge!"
"A few tries?"
"Yep! Fortune games are some of my favorites, so I do everything the game has to offer."
Melissa pressed game start and selected 3-player mode, and brought them to the tutorial screen before she began gesturing at her controller. "These top three buttons correspond to a different shot type, and that button lets you continue when you run out of lives, and the controller lets you move. It's pretty easy to figure out! Just hold one of the buttons at all times and avoid all the bullets!"
"You make it sound so easy," Izuku said.
"Because it is!"
Ochako leaned forward to look at Izuku. "We're screwed, aren't we?"
"Probably," Izuku admitted.
"You'll be fine!" Melissa said, and without warning hit the start button. "Let's go!"
Ochako lasted thirty seconds before the curtain of bullets covered the screen, and she yelped when her ship blew up. "How am I supposed to dodge that!"
"Your hitbox is tiny!" Melissa pointed out, her eyes never leaving the screen. "See that one-pixel high by two-pixel wide cockpit on your fighter? As long as bullets don't touch that you're safe!" Ochako glared at her friend before turning her attention back to the screen, concentrating on trying to have bullets avoid the box.
Izuku died about fifteen seconds later, and they both had to spend a continue before they finished the first level. As the boss died, they both sat back in relief, feeling like they just conquered a massive villain battle. "How many more stages are there?" Izuku asked.
"Hmm," Melissa gave them a playful smile as she casually picked up the box. "Six."
"Six more?" Ochako gasped. "We're screwed!"
An hour later, the three finally beat the final boss. While Melissa looked excited and invigorated, Izuku and Ochako both felt utterly drained.
"How can you possibly enjoy these games?" Ochako asked incredulously.
"Oh come on!" Melissa said. "It wasn't that bad!"
"I'm pretty sure Yagi's training is less intense," Izuku admitted as he stood up. "Do either of you want a drink?"
"Yes please," Ochako called as Izuku went to the kitchen.
"I could use one as well," Melissa stood up and stretched.
"How did you survive that whole time on one Continue?" Ochako asked as she stood up, looking at the final scores. While her and Izuku's points were both zero, Melissa's score was in the tens of millions.
"Well it helped having you two, but I've trained my hands to be very steady," She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers to demonstrate. "Now I can move my fingers a millimeter at a time if necessary. I actually measured it!"
"Oh, was this to help with your dream of being a support engineer?" Ochako asked curiously.
Melissa's eyes shifted from Ochako to the controller and back as she debated if she wanted to answer truthfully or not. "Sure, let's go with that."
Ochako was curious what Melissa meant when Izuku returned with three glasses of water, and they sat back down on the couch.
"Dinner won't be for another hour; what do you want to do until then?"
"I've got the games I picked up!" Ochako announced, swiftly grabbing her bag to pull out the boxes. "They aren't as new as Risa's game, but…"
"But they still look fun!" Melissa said. "That's the important part!"
Ochako bobbed her head quickly in response, quietly thankful for the other girl's support. Even though money was better now, she still wanted to be careful and chose some of the oldest games she could to save some yen. "Yeah!"
"As long as they're less intense than what we just played," Izuku said softly.
"They are!" Ochako assured him as she pulled the boxes out and offered them to her friends.
Looking over the two games, the three decided to play a hero-themed party game, where they moved their characters across a game board and played a variety of minigames. They found themselves quickly sucked into the game, with Ochako and Melissa happily trash-talking each other until Inko finally told them it was time for dinner.
With school out and Melissa off on I-Island, Ochako found her days had suddenly got a lot emptier. Sure there was still her regular training, but she couldn't spend every day with Izuku.
By the second day she was tired of sitting around her family's apartment by herself, and that is how she ended up at her parent's construction site after training on the third day.
"Hey 'Chako!" Her dad, Katashi Uraraka, called out as he spotted her entering the construction site. "Let's go get you some protection."
"Thanks!" Ochako beamed as she followed her dad to the makeshift trailer that served as their site office. There her dad handed her a vest and hard hat.
"Are you sure you want to be hanging around the site all day? Now that you've got your fancy training program you don't need to help us out anymore."
"I know, but I want to help!" Ochako pumped her fist in the air for emphasis. "It'll just be like old times."
Her dad smiled at her. "That's just like you, always wanting to help us out."
"Yep!" Ochako smiled before she donned her hat and vest.
"Well, you know the rules. Just stay out of trouble and listen to instructions. When one of my crew tells you to do something, you listen!"
"Of course! And stay out of the way of the heavy equipment."
"That's right," Katashi was filled with pride as he looked at his daughter. After years of helping out on construction sites she fit right in – and she was willing to give up her dreams to help them out. But they refused to let her do that, and now she's closer than ever to becoming a hero.
But he didn't realize how much he missed having her around their job sites until now.
"Is everything alright dad?" Ochako asked curiously.
"Yeah," Katashi shook his head. "Just got lost in my head for a minute there. We've wasted enough time - let's get back to work."
"Yes sir!" Ochako gave her dad a thumb's up before they both broke down in laughter and exited the trailer.
Even though it's been half a year since Ochako was allowed to join her parents on a construction site, she found herself easily slipping back into her old habits. She still knew most of the workers by name, and introduced herself to the new workers that her parents had brought on board for the renovation projects they were a part of here in Musutafu. Some humored her with simple errands, but Ochako knew even something as simple as carting supplies back and forth added up for her parent's crew over the day.
Of course, nothing was simple on a construction site, and accidents happened.
A loud crack rang out through the site as a cable holding an I-Beam aloft snapped, sending the large chunk of metal toward the ground.
"Incoming!" Someone shouted, and gasps were heard around the construction site as everyone began scrambling away.
Not Ochako.
Determination filling her face, Ochako began running toward the falling beam.
"Chako–!"
"I'll be ok, Dad!" Ochako shouted over her shoulder as she pumped her arms and legs harder to get there.
"It's not worth the risk!"
Ochako didn't have time to apologize as she rushed up a mound of dirt, the efforts of her training paying off as she took a running leap toward the beam. She held her hands out and hoped she guessed correctly where the beam would be.
Unfortunately, she was only mostly correct as she felt herself slam into the beam as her hands wrapped around it, removing its gravity and causing it to float in midair.
Ochako also felt her quirk's effect immediately as her stomach began rolling and bile filled her throat, causing her to wrap herself tightly around the beam to keep herself from vomiting.
"Chako!" Ochako heard her dad's frantic voice growing louder as she screwed her eyes shut and clenched her stomach, trying to keep her lunch down.
"I-I'm ok, Dad," Ochako managed to get out. Opening her eyes she gave him a shaky smile. "I caught it in time!"
"You nearly gave me a heart attack! How long can you hold that thing?"
"Not long," Ochako admitted.
"Let's get this on the ground so she can let it go!" Katashi barked out to his crew. Quickly, three of the workers joined him and they grabbed the bar, quickly walking it over to an open space and placing it on the ground.
Ochako pushed herself upright and let out a shaky breath as she held her hands up, forcing them together. "Release!"
She felt the sudden drop as the beam fell the last few inches to the ground, which played havoc with her stomach. Combined with the rapid change caused by releasing her quirk, she began vomiting.
By the time she was done, her dad had walked to her side and knelt next to her. "Chako, are you alright?"
"Yeah," Ochako coughed. "I am. That was a lot more than I'm used to holding with my quirk, is all!"
"That was dangerous! Why'd you do that?"
"It could have damaged the site! Or someone could have gotten hurt!"
"You could have gotten hurt! What if your quirk wasn't enough to stop it?"
"I had to try, Dad!" Ochako insisted, looking at her father's face. She felt a new kind of twisting in her stomach as she saw how devastated he looked, but then she recalled the smiling faces of her friends. "Because… because it's what a hero is supposed to do!"
Katashi reeled back as if he had been punched, and then looked at his daughter with new eyes. She had been changing rapidly in these past three months - not just physically, but there has been something building in her eyes. Behind those glasses a new fire was lit. There was always a spark there, but ever since coming to Mustafu it had grown into a roaring flame.
As he stared at his daughter in awe, he knew he was looking at the eyes of a hero.
Ochako sat on the edge of her bed, staring down at the pads on her fingers. Her dad had sent her home after the incident, and without anything better to do she simply sat there and let the scene replay in her head over and over, on repeat.
Every time she asked herself if that was the right thing to do, and every time she found herself saying yes. Ochako knew that if she had the chance to go back in time, she would make the same choice.
Eventually, she heard a gentle knock on her door frame. "Chako, mind if we come in?"
Looking up, Ochako saw both of her parents standing there, somber looks on their faces. Quietly nodding, she watched as they walked into the room and sat down on either side of her. She leaned into her mom's side, and felt both of her parents wrap their arms around her shoulders.
"So this is what being the parent of a hero feels like, huh?" Her dad asked.
"I'm sorry," Ochako turned her head to her dad and looked at him. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"There's nothing to be sorry about, honey," Miu, Ochako's mom, replied. "We've seen heroes on the news after all–"
"-We just never realized how different it would be when it's our daughter out there."
"I'm sorry," Ochako lowered her head to look at her hands again.
"There's nothing to be sorry about, Chako!" Her father insisted. "If anything, we should be the ones apologizing."
"Dad–" Ochako looked up to see his face.
"Honey, what you're doing is scary. Going out and helping people, rescuing them from scary situations. Putting yourself at risk. We can't help but be worried about our daughter."
"But when we talked it over and remembered that as scary as it is for us, it must be even scarier for the people you're helping," Her dad smiled at his daughter. "And how you've always wanted to help those around you."
"What you did - rushing headlong into danger like that - was very brave."
Ochako nodded numbly. "I just – I didn't want to see anyone hurt, and I knew my quirk - I knew I could keep everyone safe."
"We know."
"You're going to be a great hero when you grow up, Chako. And you're already so brave."
"We just… need some time to learn how to be as brave as you. To see our daughter on TV saving people and knowing she's gonna be safe."
"Mom, Dad–" Ochako blinked to clear away the tears that were built up in her eyes. "Thank you!"
She wrapped her arms around her mom and felt her dad leaning over to crush both of them in a massive bear hug. The three sat that way for a long time, and Ochako relaxed in her parents' arms, tension and worry draining out of her.
Feeling better, the three separated and left her room, moving to the kitchen to prepare dinner together. As Ochako helped set the table, she couldn't help but smile as she looked at her parents in the kitchen.
I'm gonna become a great hero and make you proud!
AN: Yay, summer's here! I bet you're all as ready for break as I am! I've got some exciting things coming up in the next couple of weeks, but don't worry, Risa's adventures will continue their regular updates! ~SupportGrrl47