7

"Fuck, are we all going to die here?" Sero Hanta says. "Fuck!"

"We are not going to die here," Mina says, her face a pale shade of lilac. "All Might is coming. He's going to come and get us, he's going to save us and—"

"How long do you think that'll take? Nobody even knows what's going on in here!" Sero says. Suddenly he's halfway to laughing—manic and crazed. "Fuck, Thirteen-sensei is dead and—"

Mina breaks into half a sob. "We don't know if they're dead—"

"—Aizawa-sensei is—he's being ripped apart by that thing— "

"Calm down, Sero!"

Ochako says nothing, she just watches as her classmates shout and panic and throw up all over each other. They're all acting a little cuckoo, if you ask her, and that's a lot coming from Ochako.

Sero breathes shakily. "I'm sorry. It's just. What should we do? What should we do?"

To Ochako, it's pretty obvious what they should be doing. She rather thinks that it's the whole point of the exercise—the whole point of enrolling in UA at all, in fact. They're supposed to be … well … Heroes. Which means that they totally have to kill all of the Vill—

Mina turns to Iida. "Iida, you have to get out and call for help," she tells him. Tears are running down her cheeks but there is a wide-eyed, hardened look on her face. Like she has just decided that she does not want to die here. "The entrance isn't locked—you have to go. Now!"

Iida blanches. "I can't possibly leave all of you here—"

"No, she's right," Sero says. He's coming up to Iida, face white, but with that same determination Mina has. "She's right. You've got to get out of here. We can distract the fucking Villains or something, whatever it is they usually do on TV—"

"I'm the class president, I can't simply escape on my own and—"

"God, are you kidding me!" Sero hisses. "You're the fastest out of all of us, don't you fucking see that? It has to be you!"

Iida still doesn't look convinced. "But.."

Mina grabs his shoulders. "Iida, listen. Listen! Do you hear that, huh?" Mina says. "That's the sound of our impending fucking doom if you don't get the Heroes' asses over here stat. So please. Do this."

They continue arguing. Ochako watches them do so, feeling like she's been robbed.

Ochako, Mina, Iida and Sero are the unlucky four who got left out when that spacetime-user Villain teleported the students in a divide-and-conquer-these-fifteen-year-olds tactic. You can hear explosions and screaming and what not going on in the other parts of the USJ where death battles (presumably?) are taking place between the kids and the Villains—and yet here she is. An honest to god Villain attack in their first week at UA and she is stuck on the bleachers. Just her luck that she's completely safe and sound in the middle of a terrorist attack.

Mostly safe and sound, anyway. That teleporter Villain is still here, watching them from above silently and creepily like a stalker butler in his three-piece suit.

Ochako looks far ahead, where they can see the central plaza where Aizawa-sensei is fighting off what looks like a dozen villains at once and a monster at it too. He doesn't look like he's winning. Not that Ochako is particularly going to miss him.

Ochako wonders distantly how her other classmates are faring—is Deku dead yet, or has he broken every single bone in his body? Now, Deku—that's someone she'll dearly miss. Probably.

Maybe. Sort of. Kinda.

Not really.

Her classmates are still arguing about their escape strategy. "You heard what Thirteen-sensei said. We need reinforcements!"

"Make for the door, dammit, we'll support you! Right, Ochako?"

"Uhuh," Ochako says. She's kneeling in front of what's left of Thirteen-sensei. Sero was wrong—Thirteen-sensei is not dead yet.

Thirteen-sensei's Quirk and hers are the exact opposite. Black hole is so dense with gravity, it sucks everything in—while Ochako nulls all of it empty. Thirteen-sensei pulls, Ochako pushes. Even like this, she can feel their Quirk buzzing at the edge of her skin, calling, calling. Just waiting to be unraveled. Waiting to be heartbroken. With a touch, she can release Thirteen-sensei from their suffering.

Ochako doesn't. She gets back up.

"All right," she hears Iida say. His voice is shaking a little. "I understand. I'll—I'll do my best."

Her classmates seems to have reached an agreement. "Okay. Okay. We're doing this," Mina says like she's trying to convince herself. "Sero, me, and Ochako—all three of us are gonna have your back. All you need to do is to get out. Okay?"

"Discussing strategy within enemy's earshot. You children underestimate me."

The Villain is standing among them without warning, close enough to intimidate, close enough to touch. His voice is calm and deep with a touch of impersonality—the sound echoes strangely, coming from somewhere in that distorted, hazy swirl of a face.

What a convenient Quirk, Ochako thinks. Transporting the cluster of matter of your body from one point on the xy axis to the next in a beat of a heart. A jumping anomaly in the great fabric of space. Like a flea.

What an annoying Quirk.

The Villain says, "You wish to call for aid. I will not let you do that."

In light of this declaration, her classmates tense—the air is taut with a silent, rigid anticipation. And the engine of Iida's Quirk pierces the air like a racecar's as he makes a run for it.

Several things happen in succession.

Mina dashes to catch the Villain to no avail—he diffuses through the air like smoke, seemingly intangible as he teleports once again. But then Mina yells, "Sero, now!" and Sero's Quirk sprouts forward to immobilize the Villain.

For a moment it looks as if their plan works. The Villain even says, "Well done, children," like an asshole. But then he says, like an even bigger asshole, "However, I can use my Quirk long range."

They look to see a warp gate gaping open right above Iida-kun, ready to swallow him whole and teleport him to who knows where. But that doesn't matter, because Ochako has already had her hold on the Villain.

"I've always wondered how teleportation works," Ochako says, her pinky pressing down.

What happens next is difficult to explain. Not for Ochako, but for some.

All four of them, including Ochako, will be undergoing a police interrogation in a few hours. In a few hours, Mina will say that the air feels "fuzzy" for a moment. Sero will say that the Villain "distorts". Iida will say that the warp gate disappears and he manages to get out to call for reinforcements. While Ochako, of course, will say that she killed the Villain.

At the current moment, Ochako says, "I've just always wondered, when you teleport, where do all that mass go? I'm not smart enough to understand quantum entanglement. But.." Ochako smiles. "Now that I know youhave a body, this gets pretty simple."

The Villain tries to speak, but he can't, not now that he is under Ochako's hold. Really, it's so funny that the Villain marks his weak spot just like that. His neck armor is cool under her hold, and underneath, she can feel his particles vibrating with each other. Embracing. Being. She can feel the entirety of this flea of matter cluster that she will stop from jumping around for the rest of time.

She can feel the Villain's body, the Villain's Quirk, at the tips of her fingers—the way she can feel every spacetime-altering Quirk she has ever encountered in passing. Like featherlight beads circling around her marble. Infinitesimal dots pulling on the threads of space needily as if they matter even a little bit, even at all.

Ochako always finds all that quantum stuff so unnecessarily complex when she can make it all so simple. When she can tug at the thread until it all unravels. When she can just rip it all apart. After all, she only has to push.

"You see," Ochako informs the Villain helpfully. "You have mass."

She pushes.

When she's done, Iida-kun is already gone, while Mina and Sero look at her with some sort of blank, shocked faces. Sero says, "Uraraka, what did you just do to that Villain?"

Ochako looks at him patiently. It seems rather obvious, but she doesn't hold it against people when they are being silly. "I killed him."

"Oh," Sero says. Long pause. "Shit, man. Oh wow."

"Are you—" Mina looks like she doesn't even understand what she's supposed to say. "Are you—okay…?"

"Okay? " Sero echoes. "She just pulverized him!"

"I'm good," Ochako says, and then remembering her manners, "Are you?"

"With one hand!" Sero continues.

"..I'm..." Mina shakes her head. She laughs, the same laugh that Sero had, cracked at the edges. "Sorry. I just—there is too much happening and I can't fucking process any of this.."

"There isn't even anything left of that guy," Sero says, his voice tainted with morbid curiosity. He uses his Quirk to grab the Villain's neck armor from the pile of clothes that the Villain left behind; dress shirt, dress pants, vest. The ugly tie. "Holy shit, Uraraka. How'd you do that? I thought your Quirk is just.." he looks at her. "Sorry, what's your Quirk again?"

"Zero Gravity," Ochako says.

"Well, I'm never going to fucking space, then," Sero says. "No offense, Uraraka. I mean, you were great."

"Thanks."

"Just absolutely fantastic."

"Thanks."

"Fuck!" Sero says, seemingly to no one, or maybe to god.

"We.." Mina seems to have gotten her shit together, or maybe has decided to insert this particular moment into a drawer in her mental palace labeled open never. She looks at them. "Guys. I know we need to wait for the Heroes, but we need to—we need to help the others."

"Yeah, can't just stay here and hang around, can we?" Sero says. "That wouldn't be Heroic."

They were so lonely up at the entrance area, but when they come down they start to bump into more Villains and even other kids, like Bakugou and Kirishima. "Oh hey, guys," Kirishima says, grinning from ear to ear as he always does, waving at them. "Glad to see you're all good!"

Bakugou says nothing, but he does throw Ochako another one of his nasty glares, which is like a flying kiss at this point. His face is covered in soot—he's been using his Quirk—but like the rest of them, he is unscathed.

If every one of Ochako's classmates is faring this well, then either Villains aren't all they're cracked up to be or UA kids truly are built different.

"We had Iida get out to call for help," Mina says. "You guys okay?"

"We're good. You guys are the first ones we bumped into," Kirishima says, fist-bumping her in greeting. "We're trying to go to the central plaza—watch out, incoming!"

The incoming Villain is quickly blown to hell by yours truly Bakugou motherfucking Katsuki, all fire and spit and the stuff that makes violence a glorious thing to behold and men, men. "If you're going to have a fucking group discussion, shit yourself a time machine and get the fuck back to third grade," Bakugou snaps, digging his boot into the Villain's solar plexus. "We're in a fucking terrorist attack and I'm done dealing with these small fry Villains—oh, fuck off."

They watch Bakugou blow up another Villain with the annoyed indifference of someone having to do the dishes. "That ringleader hand fetish guy needs to be dealt with—but especially that fucking warp gate Villain. Take him out and these fuckers will lose their personal fucking Anywhere Door—"

"Uraraka killed him," Sero says.

Silence. Bakugou stops in his tracks, looking at Ochako with a complicated, pinched expression. "What," he says, a growl.

"She—" Mina's eyes dart to Ochako. "She … incapacitated ... That warp gate Villain."

"He's dead," Sero says.

Silence again.

"..Oh," Kirishima says finally. "Oh. Well, damn." Several expressions pass through his face as he scratches his head. "I mean. Is that—that's like a, uhh, a—"

"—a good thing, or a bad thing?" Sero says, shrugs, laughs that crazy laugh again. "Well. I mean, I'm fucking alive right now, so that's a fucking win. Thanks, Uraraka."

Mina sounds defensive. "We had to get Iida out," Mina cuts in. "We had to call for reinforcements, and that Villain was—was in the way, so Ochako did … what she had to do..."

Silence again for the nth time. Ochako finds all of them looking at her and understands that they would like her to participate in this social pass hide and seek where she has to convince them that she is a normal person. "It was a tough call to make," she says in what she thinks passes for sincerity. "Our lives or his? Such an impossible choice. But what can I do; I still had to pick one at the end."

"That seems fair," Kirishima says.

"She killed him with one hand," Sero says.

When they arrive at the central plaza, Aizawa-sensei is either dead or about to be in a minute—the pool of blood is a pretty good visual cue, and the giant monster standing on top of him is an even better one. But that's fine, because in the next second All Might proceeds to show up in all his Plus Ultra glory.

Or not.

"So our intel's right," Shigaraki Tomura says, so gleeful his voice is slick with it. "You are weakening, All Might."

All Might doesn't reply, clashing toe to toe with the monster in the world's deadliest MMA fight. The Villain's smile is palpable underneath those dismembered hands as he watches them with the sadistic fondness of a child and his new toys, teeth like a gleam of a knife in the dark. "Magnificent creature, isn't it? We designed the Nomu specifically to counter you, All Might! It has shock absorption, super regeneration, super strength, super speed, super senses, su—"

The Villain proceeds to superly narrate the rest of the super Nomu's super Quirks but Ochako isn't superly paying attention. She is having some kind of mental clash in her head. Ochako is thinking to herself: This isn't right.

It really isn't. No. This isn't right at all. All Might is supposed to kill her. And now All Might is going to die? How does that work? Is the sun going to set in the east too? Has world hunger suddenly been solved? Has sea temperature gone back to normal?

Because All Might isn't winning. All Might isn't winning. It's not like on TV, where he gets rid of the bad guys in one punch. Ochako is astonished by what she's seeing here, because this is so not right. That Nomu thing is matching him fist to fist, and Ochako can see the struggle evident on the taut lines of All Might's muscles. Maybe the Villains actually are all that they're cracked up to be—maybe they're even good. Good enough to kill All Might.

But if All Might dies, who's going to kill her? Villains?

Ochako thinks about it.

..Huh. That could work, actually.

Her gaze moves to the Nomu. That monster? Or—she looks at Shigaraki Tomura—that Villain freak?

Well, whatever. She doesn't have a particular preference. Everybody can give it a shot, it'll be an Ochako buffet right here for all she cares. Honestly, her best option is just to jump into the battle currently ongoing in front of her right now, head on, and may the best man/monster win. That's right, she should just—

"All Might!"

Ochako watches Deku appear out of nowhere to jump straight into battle, Quirk and broken bones blazing.

He isn't the only one. Bakugou, Kirishima, and that elemental Quirk kid—Todoroki—have shown up and jumped straight in, too, like a suicidal lineup of a superpowered boyband group. Impressively, they are actually helping All Might out pretty well. Assisted with the power of friendship and encouraged by the fiery spirit of underage school-sanctioned vigilantism, All Might starts to turn the tides around, and the monster is done for.

There is silence following All Might's apparent win. And then the Villain says, "Well, this fucking sucks. Can't even kill the final boss. Gotta get back to fucking saving point. Well shitfucknuts, this fucking sucks. But can't help it, huh? Can't fucking help it. We'll take our leave then, Kurogiri..." a pause. "Kurogiri? Kurogiri? Kurogiri!"

Bakugou puts two and two together on who this Kurogiri person might be because he is so smart and so quick-witted. "Oh, shiiit," Bakugou says. He's grinning—it's the first time Ochako has seen him so happy. "Aw, did someone lose their fucking portable getaway car? You're gonna spend the rest of your days in jail, you anti-social fucking sicko—"

"Bakugou," All Might says, a warning, but Bakugou isn't done with the sound of his own voice.

"—piece of shit. You absolute failure of a terrorist!" Bakugou says. "Such a fucking shame we don't do death penalties anymore! 'Cause you're gonna look so fuck ugly in orange, they're gonna have to kick it out of the color wheel."

Who would've known Bakugou can be such a chatty guy? All you have to do is give him some villains to beat up and his day is made.

"Kurogiri..?! Fuck!" The Villain looks like he is getting even crazier than the already fucked up baseline amount of crazy that he already was. Shigaraki Tomura scratches blood into his own skin in a pathetic frenzy equal to a baby getting its pacifier taken away from it, muttering to himself like a man posessed. "No, no, no … this isn't right … this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong this is wrong this is all fucking wrong..!"

"Enough," All Might says. He doesn't look particularly weirded out by the Villain's antics, maybe because breaking into hysterics is what typical Villains do in your typical Villain fights. "You have lost, Villain. You will face your crimes in the eye of justice—"

"Kurogiri that fucking bastard," the Villain says. He doesn't even seem to be listening to any of them, or aware of his own surroundings. "Did he ditch us did he run away that fucking fuckshit traitor that fucking fuck how dare he do this to us—"

"He's dead," Ochako says.

Silence. Once again in the span of fiteen minutes Ochako finds everyone to be looking at her. Beside her she hears Mina hiss in panic, "Ochako!"

The Villain seems to be aware of Ochako's existence for the first time. "What'd you say..?"

"He's dead," Ochako says calmly. She scrounges the pocket of her Hero costume and lifts up the ugly tie she nicked off the lack of remnants of the Villain's body. "See?"

"Child," All Might says, tight. "Do not aggravate the enemy further—"

"Why do you have that..?" the Villain says, turning around fully in her direction. "Why do you have that?"

"I killed him," Ochako explains patiently.

The Villain moves, but All Might is faster. Much, much faster than she's ever seen him throughout this fight, and much faster than she thought possible. In a blink of an eye he has the Villain under his powerful pin in one fluid, swift movement. Shigaraki Tomura looks like a limp doll under his hold, one pale hand reaching out to her in vain.

The dismembered hands previously covering his body have all fallen away in the attack, allowing her to see his face fully for the first time. He looks exactly like the type of guy you'd expect to fail a terrorist attack on a bunch of fifteen year old kids.

"It's you," Shigaraki says, growls, spits. "It's you, it's all because of you, it's you, it's you, I'm going to fucking kill you, you little bitch, I'm going to rip you apart limb by limb I'm going to cut you up—"

And this and that, but Ochako isn't listening anymore, because all is right in the world again. Ah, Ochako thinks, almost pleasantly, if such a thing is even possible for her. It's still All Might, after all.

All Might won. It seemed so effortless, the way All Might had saved her. Sure he's weakening—we all get old, don't we? Bodies fail eventually! But still, All Might wins in the end. He always prevails. All Might punted the so-called artificial human designed to kill him like a baseball home run. All Might beat this incel that just tried to kill her like it was nothing.

All Might is still the best. All Might is still the one who has to kill her. All is right. And to think just five minutes ago she thought she should just drop out of UA and start a killing spree.

"Ochako!"

"Uraraka-san!"

She blinks to find both Mina and Deku surrounding her, their faces pale. "Are you okay?" Deku says, the same time Mina blurts, "Are you crazy, why did you say all that?"

Ochako looks at their tense faces, and then to her hand where she still has the dead teleporter's tie gripped in a fist. Distantly she can hear the other Heroes arriving somewhere in the USJ, sirens roaring outside the building. Ochako looks back up at her classmates.

Ochako's lips shake. "I-I don't know," she says. "I was s-so scared."

Mina's face softens, and she looks like she's going to cry again. "Oh, Ochako, I know," she says, hugging her tightly. "Me too. I'm so glad we're all right."

"Uhuh," she says, patting Mina on her back as she starts to shake, her tears wetting Ochako's suit. "Me too, Mina." She catches Deku's eyes. So Deku survives after all. He looks all right, though wet for some reason. She can only spot some broken fingers, bruises and scratches, but nothing else. She smiles at him. "I'm glad you're all right too, Deku."

Deku smiles back, wobbly. "So am I," he says. And then, "I mean, I'm glad that you're all right. Not that I'm glad that I'm all right. I mean, I'm also glad that I—that I'm all right, it's just that what I meant to say is—"

While the Heroes detain the Villains, ambulances and paramedics fill the dome. They put a shock blanket around her and tell her that your parents are already informed, everything is okay, you're safe here in the place where you just got attacked by a bunch of Villains and hand her a warm cup of green tea that tastes bland.

Ochako sips her shit tea while watching her surroundings. It's pretty orderly for a terrorist attack aftermath. She sees the other kids get escorted out of the zones they were trapped in and wonders if anybody died, but a medic told her they've done a headcount and apparently nobody did.

They make the students line up to exit the building "in orderly fashion", as if they're doing some sort of earthquake drill. Her classmates seem fine mostly. Nobody looks hurt, really.

Actually, isn't all of this pretty disappointing?

Like, it's a Villain attack. That guy was saying that they were going to kill All Might. And yet they couldn't even kill a single kid? On top of that, they didn't even manage to get away?

The media has been lying to her all her life—this Hero-Villain stuff is nowhere near as exciting as it's all cracked up to be.

Ochako wonders distantly what's going to happen to the artificial human monster that tried to Kill All Might. But then again, if it didn't manage to do its job, what use would it be? That hand fetish Villain guy was either in over his head, extremely delusional, or just plain stupid. If Ochako is capable of feeling secondhand embarrassment, she would feel it right now. That guy is probably going to get a life sentence for this, and that's…

It's you, it's you, I'm going to fucking kill you—

..such a shame.

This is the first time anybody ever said they wanted to kill her. Such a pathetic, useless, stupid Villain, and he wants her dead so badly, she could see it in his eyes. It's such a waste, she realizes, that he is going to be sent to Tartarus for life. It's too bad.

Oh well.

Ochako doesn't hold it against Shigaraki Tomura. He can't help being an incompetent loser who can't even kill a single teenage girl let alone the best Pro-Hero in the current era. And after all, life is full of surprises ever since she got into UA. Who knows what the future holds? Maybe he'll get out of jail and try to kill All Might again. Hell, maybe he'll even try to kill her.

Oh, yes. Ochako smiles to herself. So many things to look forward to in her life—she simply can't wait.

Ochako walks around because everything has started to become boring when she sees Deku pacing here and there.

"Deku?"

He starts, nearly dropping his tea. Ochako catches his shock blanket with her Quirk and hands it over to him. "Uraraka-san," he says. "Oh, thank you.."

"You seem anxious," she says, smoothing the blanket over his shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing.."

Ochako looks at his broken fingers. "Did you tell the paramedic about your fingers yet?"

He hides his hand underneath the blanket even though it's way too late to do that. "Um," he winces. "Not yet.."

Ochako looks in the direction Deku was looking at—the cluster of Pro-Heroes and the police. "Who're you looking for?"

"No, I was just—nothing.."

"Is it All Might?"

She's right—Deku tenses up immediately. Ochako looks at him, curious. She saw Deku coming up to All Might after it was all over, before the paramedic usher them away. The both of them had exchanged words—quick, but they did. It was interesting enough that it'd picked Ochako's attention because it had seemed—well. Strangely personal. Something in the way All Might looked at Deku, Ochako has seen in the way her dad looks at her. Fatherly.

It was so quick, she isn't sure if she'd misread it. But judging Deku's current reaction, maybe she hadn't.

"..No, it's just.." he flusters. "It was a, a really tough fight, and he just seemed—"

"Uraraka Ochako-kun?"

She turns. It's a tall, clean-shaven man in his thirties flanked by two policemen by either side of him, but Ochako can tell that he's one too even if he isn't wearing uniform. Something about the way he walks.

"Yes," Ochako says. "That's me."

"Hi there. My name is Detective Tsukauchi, from Musutafu Police Department," he says. His voice is gentle. He looks between her and Deku. "You two kids all right? Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay," says Ochako.

"I'm fine.." says Deku. And then, impressively because Ochako knows people like Midoriya could start hyperventilating if they had to ask for an extra packet of ketchup, "Detective, is—is, um, is All Might all right?"

The man smiles. "You are Midoriya Izuku-kun, I believe?"

"Um, yes," Deku says, surprised. "You know my name..?"

"He's fine, kid," he says in lieu of answering Deku's question. "All Might is just fine, Midoriya-kun. Now, may I see your hand, please?"

Ooh, sharp.

Deku is blushing when he shows the detective his broken fingers. "This doesn't look good, kid. We'll need to patch you up, okay? Sansa, please take Midoriya-kun here to the paramedic.."

"See you, Deku," Ochako says as Deku is being herded out of the conversation sheepishly.

"Um, see you, Uraraka-san.."

The detective turns back to her after Deku's gone. There is some kind of plain clarity in his eyes as he kneels down to talk to her. His voice soft, as if he is addressing a traumatized child. "Uraraka-kun, we understand that you were one of the students who were trapped at the entrance area with one of the Villains."

"I was."

"And that you were involved with the death of the Villain known as Kurogiri."

"I was."

He pauses for a bit before he continues. "I'd like to let you know that we are doing everything we can to take care of the situation and you can be rest assured that you are safe now. It must've been a shocking incident, and if you aren't ready to talk about it yet, we can give you more time to do so.." he watches her carefully. "How are you feeling, Uraraka-kun?"

"I'm fine."

Something flashes in his eyes, then; a gentle, understanding look. "Uraraka-kun," he says. "You do know that it's okay if you don't, right? Feel fine, that is."

Ochako blinks. "Okay," she says, a little confused. "But I feel fine?"

He frowns a little, but it's not an unkind look. In fact, he looks deeply empathetic, as if Ochako is crying her eyes out tragically at the moment, which she is not. "I understand the need to appear strong," he says. "But this is a safe space, kid; you don't have to hide your feelings. You do know that considering what you have just gone through, it's completely normal to not feel fine."

Ochako stares at him blankly. She is feeling like how she always feels. What in the world is this man talking about? "I'm fine?"

"You know what," he says, patting her sympathetically on her shock blanket-clad shoulder. "Let's wait until your parents get here and then we'll take you to the police station, okay? Take it one step at a time."

"Okay?" Ochako says.


Ochako has entertained the possibility that she might one day enter a police station, but never had she thought that they'd be so nice to her.

The officers all said hi to her and asked her how she was doing. One of them even pulled the chair out for her to sit in. They brought her snacks and drinks and asked if she wanted more. It's crazy. And here she thought that her incursion to the police station would involve things like handcuffs and warrants and life sentences.

What do you know? Things really aren't like how they are on TV.

After the police let her go home, her parents asked if she wanted to quit UA and go to another school because of this incident. She said no. Like, no way. This is literally the peak of her youth.

The next day, she is somewhat surprised to see that Aizawa-sensei is in fact alive and not well. He walks to the class looking like he's got one foot in the grave, but homeroom continues as per usual. He's going to talk to all of them one on one in some kind of post-trauma consultation; he's saying something about how he's sorry on behalf of the school that it all happened and that they're providing "mental help" for anyone who might need them and to please be rest assured this incident will not happen again.

Ochako sure hopes that's not the case.

After that, he tells them about the upcoming UA sports festival that's going to happen in a few weeks and everybody, forgetting the "deeply traumatic incident" that happened literally last Friday, proceeds to clap and cheer.

In the first period, Mina comes up to her. "Hey," Mina says, leaning on her desk. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Ochako says, smiling up at her. "What's up?"

"Just checking up on you." There is a searching look on Mina's face, like she's looking for something on Ochako's. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, why?"

"..Last week was—well, it was … a lot," Mina says.

Oh, that. "Oh, that," Ochako says. "I'm fine, why?"

Mina stares at her for a bit too long for it to be an acceptable social interaction. And then Mina shakes her head, her mouth twisting in some kind of grin. "You know, Ochako, you're tougher than you look. Remind me not to mess with you, huh?'' She bumps Ochako's shoulder, a genial move. "Wanna get juice downstairs? Hey, Tooru! We're getting juice, wanna come with? Hey, Momo, we're getting juice—"

While Mina is wrangling all the 1-A girls together, Ochako walks over to Deku's desk.

Deku notices when she's coming immediately, judging from the way he blushes and scampers to close his notebook like a first grader caught drawing boobs. She smiles at him, and then at the occupant of the desk in front of Deku's. "Hi, Mineta-kun," Ochako says. "Can I take a seat here for a bit?"

Mineta-kun babbles some crazy degenerate shit about having a girl sit in his chair and moves away immediately. Ochako ignores him and sits down. "Hey," Ochako says.

"Hey," Deku says. He isn't as tense as he was when she talked to him on the first day.

"You feeling okay?" Ochako says. "Last week was, well. A lot, huh?"

"Yeah," Deku says quietly. "I'm really glad you're okay, Uraraka-san."

There is genuine concern there for some reason. Ochako laughs. "Oh, thanks. I'm glad you're okay too. I heard you and Tsuyu-chan had to deal with a lot of Villains—it must've been so scary."

"I was there too," supplies Mineta to the acknowledgment of nobody.

"Amazing that you got out safely," Ochako says, because Deku breaking fingers is basically baseline normal.

"No, it was.." he trails. He looks up at her. "I heard about what happened," he says nervously. Blushing. "With you, and that—that Villain in the entrance area. It's really … messed up. I think you were really, um, brave. Uraraka-san."

"Aw, thank you," Ochako says. "It was nothing."

Deku blinks at her, silent with a slight frown on his forehead. "Oh.." he says then with a weird, confused tone, so Ochako says, "You know, I'm still processing the entire thing," and then he says, "Oh," with a more understanding tone.

Huh. These people are all acting weird all of a sudden. It's so annoying having to recalibrate all her responses in light of this entire event. "How about you?" Ochako says. "Feeling okay? You didn't answer my question."

"I'm fine."

Such a bad, bad liar. "Deku-kun," Ochako says. "It's okay if you're not, you know."

He blinks at her. "Huh..?"

"It's okay if you don't feel fine," she explains. "We were literally in a terrorist attack. You can admit that you're not fine. It's normal if you don't."

"Oh," he says. Flustering again. "Yeah, um. You're right.."

"So?" Ochako leans forward. "Are you still worried about All Might?"

He looks at her with surprise, like he didn't expect her to remember that. "I—um—" he relents. "A little.." he admits. "I'm—I'm sure he's fine, though."

If All Might dies the whole entire world would hear about it unless the government has another 220 cm tall superpowered mythical legend to spare. "Uhuh," Ochako says. "I'm sure. So what's up?"

"..Nothing. Sorry," Deku apologizes for god knows what. "Sorry. It's just. Everybody did so much—" He pales and pauses and says nothing else.

So predictable. Ochako has got him down pat. "Hey," Ochako says again. "You helped All Might too—"

His response is always so quick when he's shooting himself down. "No, that was Kacchan. Kacchan and Todoroki-kun and Kirishima-kun, I … didn't really do anything."

He pauses again. Awkward. Sad. Depressed. And look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Ochako coming to the rescue of Midoriya Izuku's self-esteem. "Tsuyu-chan told me everything. She said she only got out safe 'cause you were there with her."

Beat. "She said that?"

"Yep," Ochako says. "You were useful, Deku-kun. Isn't that great?"

Deku stares at her. She smiles at him as she stands up. "We're getting some juice," Ochako says. "Wanna come with?"

Deku doesn't reply—silent for a moment. But then, quietly and with a smile, "Okay."

"Can I come?" says Mineta to the acknowledgment of nobody.

When Deku leaves his chair to tag along, Ochako notices the occupant of the desk behind his staring at her. Bakugou Katsuki doesn't avert his eyes when she catches him looking—no bashfulness whatsoever on that intent, acute-bitch-face face. Out of reflex, Ochako winks at him.

To her surprise, Bakugou looks away with a blank face. Not even a glare. Not even a curse, or a middle finger.

Huh.

"Ready to go, Ochako?" Mina says from the door.

"Yep," she says, turning away. "Only if you're buying."

"Oh, come on!"


The teacher's office is not what she expected. Ochako supposes she expected something more corporate, but the space is unexpectedly homey; it resembles a messy hotel room than anything. There is a scent of air freshener and coffee in the air and something doughy and sweet—bakeries sort of sweet. The room is empty save for Ochako and Aizawa-sensei.

"You can sit right here."

Ochako obeys obediently. Aizawa-sensei's desk is organized—something that Ochako didn't expect either. There are unlabeled books and documents lined neatly on the shelf behind him, and stacked on his desk; they seem to be color-coded. There is a tabby cat sticker on Aizawa-sensei's coffee mug.

Aizawa-sensei opens a document with one bandaged hand, and holds a pen in another bandaged hand. A police report, or a counseling assessment sheet—she doesn't really pay attention. "How are you, Uraraka?"

His face is obscured by all the bandages, but in the past week where she has known him, he has only ever had a single expression on his face: mild annoyance. Even having had half his life beaten out of him, Ochako is sure that does not change. "I'm fine, sensei."

"Detective Tsukauchi has informed me regarding your interrogation," he says, flipping through the documents. His voice is as deadpan as always. "This will not be a repeat of that. But as your homeroom teacher and the representative of UA, I do need to discuss the matter with you. "

"Okay."

"Your case in particular is complicated."

"Okay."

Aizawa-sensei watches her. Sharp and bland. "One Villain was neutralized in the incident—the Villain that you, Iida, Ashido, and Sero engaged with. Officially, this Villain was terminated in self-defense." His gaze flicks back to the document. "Following protocols regarding underage non-licensed Hero students, the details on the Villain's death will not be released to the public."

He cuts the point, no sentimentality whatsoever, but still—this is useless. The police have told her all this. "Okay."

His eyes are barely perceptible beyond the bandages, dark and unreadable. "However, under internal record, the Villain known as Kurogiri was neutralized by you."

There is another cat sticker on the back of Aizawa-sensei's laptop—a calico. "Okay," Ochako says.

"The authorities are still conducting the investigation in regards to the incident. Normally," Aizawa-sensei says. "Fatally using a Quirk on another person would result in penalties—a lifetime ban on Hero license is the lightest of it, from a perspective. However, the circumstances of this incident are unorthodox, and while the incident is still under review—they've thus far determined that your actions were justified."

"Okay," Ochako says.

"What else did they tell you, Uraraka?"

Ochako blinks. "What do you mean, sensei?"

Aizawa-sensei puts down the document. "Everything I've reiterated just now—the police have already informed you and your parents. I believe they've told you other things as well. What were they?"

It was a long affair at the station. There were a lot of papers, some signings, hours of discussions and copious legal terms being thrown around. Ochako remembers being bored out of her mind. "They told me Kurogiri was the League's escape plan," Ochako says. "They said the League was captured only because Kurogiri had been incapacitated."

"Did they tell you that you did the right thing?"

"They didn't, sensei." They didn't have to.

"I see," Aizawa-sensei says. "Do you think that you did the right thing?"

This school, Ochako thinks, is full of very funny people. "Have I done something wrong, sensei?" Ochako asks. A very genuine question—one from the heart, if she has one. "Am I going to be punished?"

Aizawa-sensei does not console her despite her simpering tone. He considers her coolly. "I'm not punishing you, Uraraka. I'm only asking you a question."

She considers him back. "He was a Villain," she says, a prod from a student who isn't quite sure what the correct answer to this particular problem is.

Aizawa-sensei's gaze doesn't budge. "Yes, he was." He says it like a teacher not quite willing to give his student a clue to answer this particular problem.

"He was about to kill us."

"That was most likely the case," Aizawa-sensei says. "But in the end, he didn't. Why is that?"

"Because I killed him."

"That's right," he says. "So. Did you do the right thing?"

Distantly and apathetically, she feels out of her depth, a little off-kilter. This conversation is a little confusing—he isn't giving her anything to read into, no hints to grasp. "Isn't saving people the right thing?" Ochako says, a genuine, honest question. "Isn't that what Heroes do?"

Aizawa-sensei doesn't reply. They look at each other in silence. And then he says, "Do you like donuts?"

Ochako stares at him. "Okay," she says.

She watches him get up from his chair—not with a small amount of effort—and limp to another desk. Present Mic's, judging from the merch decorating the cubicle. Aizawa-sensei brings back a box of donuts and puts it in front of Ochako. "Take whichever you want. Tea, coffee?"

Ochako stares blankly as Aizawa-sensei makes her tea—no sugar, no milk—and puts it in front of her. She sips it after thanking him. It tastes good. Aizawa-sensei is still unreadable as he watches her nibble her donut.

"Tell me, Uraraka," Aizawa-sensei says, leaning back to his chair. "What do Heroes do?"

There are many things in the world that Ochako has a skewed and differing perspective compared to other people, whether she is aware of it or not. This one, however, is not one of them. In this particular area, Ochako has a rather simple and precise view that is also adopted by at least ninety percent of the population in her current society.

"Heroes save people," answers Ochako simply.

He hums. "What else?"

Ochako isn't sure why she's being asked to play 20 questions with the dullest topic in the world. "Heroes stop Villains."

He hums. "I see. Do you think Heroes do the right thing, Uraraka?"

These are brainless questions. "They're Heroes," she says, patiently, because Aizawa-sensei is either being deliberately slow or he got hit in the head harder than she thought. "Of course they do the right th—"

"They don't."

Ochako blinks. "Heroes can't do the right thing," Aizawa-sensei says, "Because they don't have the right to decide what's right. That is why we have the law. That is why we have the HPSC, the regulations, the Hero acts," without a segue, he says, "I have killed people in this line of work."

Aizawa-sensei's voice is inflectionless as he continues, almost casual, as if he's talking about the weather. "These people were Villains. And each of these Villain deaths that I have caused is all a mistake—even if their deaths meant lives saved. Even if I could not see another way out other than their deaths. All mistakes. Even if I thought that their deaths were justified. Every single one is a mistake."

Aizawa-sensei puts his own cup on his desk. His smells of coffee, thick and rich. "And I have thought that. I have thought that ending a Villain's life was the right thing. But that is not what it means to be a Hero, because being a Hero is not doing what you think is right."

Ochako stares at him. His gaze is steady as he watches her watching him. "No matter how heinous you think the crime is, how irredeemable the Villain may seem to you—as a Hero, you do not get to decide whether a Villain deserves a second chance or not," he says. "Because that is not Heroism. That is playing god."

He pours more coffee into his mug. "The Hero license is not a license to kill. We don't have the jurisdiction to decide who gets to live and who doesn't. Capital punishment should never be decided by a single person, Pro-Hero or not. And.." Aizawa-sensei pauses for a moment, leaning forward so he's at eye level with her.

"Uraraka," Aizawa-sensei says calmly. "You are not a Hero."

The silence that ensues is only broken by the hum of the AC. Aizawa-sensei's voice isn't derisive as he continues—just like how it's been this entire conversation, he sounds rather plain and matter-of-fact. "Until you have your license, you are a student. No more and no less. You are here to learn to be a Hero, but you are not expected—officially nor unofficially—to be a Hero. That is my job as your Hero teacher. Do you understand that?"

"Okay," Ochako says.

"You weren't supposed to kill that Villain," Aizawa-sensei says. "I understand the urgency of the situation and I'm sorry that this has happened. But I need you to understand this: what happened was a mistake. The attack, and the Villain's death, they are mistakes—not yours, understand, but ours. Still. I need you to understand that it was a mistake."

Ochako looks at him again. "What do you mean, sensei?" Another genuine question.

"You are a child, Uraraka," Aizawa-sensei says. "You shouldn't have to kill a person, Villain or otherwise. You shouldn't have to do that ever. Nobody should—even Heroes."

"Oh," Ochako says. "Okay."

For a moment, Ochako thinks she sees something in those eyes. The bandages on Aizawa-sensei's face twitch when he frowns ever so slightly. "Uraraka, in good faith I believe you did what you could, and what you did did save your classmates—and me. Despite it all.." Aizawa-sensei looks into her eyes. "You do understand now that it was not supposed to happen?"

"Yes," she says obediently.

"Right." His words are slow and cool, but there is something guarded there now, a measured carefulness. "Let me ask you this. How do you feel about what you did, Uraraka?"

"How do I feel," Ochako repeats, mimicking Aizawa-sensei's careful tone, "about killing that Villain..?"

"Yes."

"I feel.." she stops, pauses for a long time. Her fingers grip tight around her cup until her nails are white. "I have a hard time," Ochako begins slowly, "showing what I feel. Ever since—since forever, I've always just.."

Aizawa-sensei doesn't reply. Ochako continues eventually, her tone wavering a little. Unsure. "I've always found it difficult to … to express myself. To even know what I'm. Feeling. Sometimes—" she pauses. Her voice drops to a whisper like she's telling him a secret. "Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy. Like I'm … like I'm out of my mind…"

She looks up at him. He's watching her, silent and emotionless, and her face suddenly heats up. She looks away, abruptly losing confidence. "I'm—I'm sorry, I really don't know why I'm saying all this I'm sorry if I'm not making sense—"

"Uraraka," Aizawa-sensei says. "It's all right."

She looks down. Her eyes stare back at her, reflected on her tea—that mirage blurs when Ochako's tears start falling into it, rippling the dark surface. "It just—" her voice is a soft, broken thing. "I scare myself sometimes, sensei, I. The things that I think, they're so.." she shakes her head. "I feel trapped. Sometimes. Trapped in my own head. I feel like. I'm always different ... from everybody else. Like I'm an outsider. Like I'm such a f-freak, like I'm some kind of—" she takes a deep, shuddering breath.

"Uraraka—"

"I killed that Villain," she says emptily. "I didn't mean to. I don't know if I meant to. It just all happened so fast, and I, sometimes I think I'm a m-monster—"

"You are not a monster, Uraraka," Aizawa-sensei says, his voice firm, but not unkind. "You were only scared and confused."

"I thought my friends were all going to die," Ochako's lips tremble so hard she's having a hard time saying words. "I thought he was going to k-kill all of us. I thought—I thought you were dead, sensei, and I was just—I couldn't think, I just—"

She can feel his eyes on her, sharp and scrutinizing. But there is a warmth there, now. She is pretty sure it's not just her imagination. "I see."

"I've been trying," Ochako sobs. Her voice hitches in her throat, shaky. "To act strong, 'cause I don't want to make my parents w-worried. But. I just. I just don't know. I don't know why I—why we … h-had to go through that." She hiccups, her fists trembling, digging into her skirt. "I don't know why I had to do. What I did. Every time I close my eyes, I just—" she squeezes her eyes shut, her tears salty in her mouth. "My brain just keeps replaying that moment. Over and over again, and I'm just so … so tired, I don't know what to do.."

Aizawa-sensei hands her some tissues and Ochako receives them with shaking hands. "Am I—am I going to get into trouble?" Ochako sniffles. "For k-killing that Villain? Am I going to get kicked out? My parents worked so ha-ard to get me here. So hard. If I'm kicked out, what are we e-even going to do?"

"As I've mentioned before, this incident is entirely our fault, not yours," Aizawa-sensei says, refilling up her cup of tea. "Drink this—take a deep breath. Good. Uraraka, your studentship will not be revoked. Whatever is the result of the investigation, should there be further consequences down the line due to your action, I will personally make sure that it will be fair. Be rest assured."

"Okay," she sniffles.

"Now—take your time to gather yourself. When you're ready, you may leave," he pauses. "Thank you for sharing this with me, Uraraka. My door is always open whenever you'd like to talk. Understand?"

"Thank you," she says to her tissue. "S-sensei. Thank you."

The time that she took to gather herself is five minutes, and then she excuses herself. She has reached the door when Aizawa-sensei calls out to her one last time. "One thing, Uraraka."

Ochako turns. "Yes, sensei?"

His eyes are dark. Still unreadable even now, just like his voice. "Why did you take that Villain's tie?"

Ochako doesn't miss a beat. "I don't know, sensei," she says. "I was so scared, I couldn't think straight."

"I see," he says. "All right. You're dismissed."


After she is excused from the teacher's office, Ochako is still sniveling, holding a pack of tissues that Aizawa-sensei gave her. She walks into a nearby girl's toilet, puts down her backpack on the basin, and proceeds to throw up what little donut she had eaten in the closet. When she's done she returns to the basin and splashes cold water on her face.

Ochako calmly looks into the mirror. Her reflection stares back, flat and unbothered. Clinically, she inspects her puffy eyes, massaging the area to relieve the swelling. She wipes her tears away, fixes her lip balm, and throws the tissues into the bin.

They won't kick her out. It's ridiculous even as a notion; things will leak and the media backlash would be too much. On top of that, people would support her. After all, she's only a scared little girl who wanted to save her classmates and succeeded in doing so—she'll be Japan's victimized sweetheart in a heartbeat. Not to mention the entire incident on its own is already a shitstorm for UA—they'd want to keep a tight lid on the details. None of this is a concern. However…

Too much attention, she has found, isn't good.

She opens the tap, starts washing her hands. Killing Villains isn't good. Feeling fine after killing Villains isn't good.

And here she thought being a Hero is all about getting attention and killing Villains. False advertisement much?

Uraraka. You are not a Hero.

She isn't a Hero, but she thought that she could be. She thought that anyone could. But this Heroism thing might actually be much more complex than she pegged it to be. You don't get to be right, and you certainly can never be wrong. But if right is this hard to define, how do you know what's wrong?

Ochako dries her hands and tosses the tissues into the bin again. She looks back, one more time, at her reflection in the mirror. She smiles. She stops smiling. She smiles again. She stops smiling. She smiles again.

She has been a good girl all her life because it's simpler that way. But now, being good doesn't seem so simple anymore. And isn't simple just so dull?

Ochako stops smiling. She picks up her backpack and walks out.