Chapter Text
Katsuki was frustrated.
He stepped around another crack in the sidewalk, then another line, then even the division between light and shadow. By the time he realized what he was doing, he was walking far too slowly. He clenched his teeth.
When had shadows started counting as lines?
The idea of making copies had seemed good at first. One of each notebook, everything organized, everything safe. But now it wasn’t enough. If something happened to those, he would lose everything. That was why the others were on top of the wardrobe. Copies of copies. He tried not to think about what would happen if something went wrong anyway.
The gloves were tight around his hands. He didn’t touch anything without them, getting sick wasn’t worth the risk. But every time he grabbed something, that uncomfortable thought crept in: what if the gloves themselves were dirty? He cleaned them. Then he wondered if the cloth needed cleaning too.
Nothing felt like enough.
His belongings were aligned. They had to be. If something was even slightly out of place, something bad would happen. He didn’t know what, only that he couldn’t risk it.
Where was this coming from?
He was frustrated.
He had decided he wouldn’t leave the house until the camp, but somehow Eijirou had convinced him to spend the afternoon at the school pool.
On the way there, the streets and sidewalks were full of cracks, and Katsuki had to walk slowly. Eijirou kept pace with him, didn’t comment on it.
At school, Katsuki silently thanked the fact that the pool tiles were large enough for him to walk without worrying.
Eijirou looked concerned, but one look from Katsuki was enough to make him stay quiet.
The afternoon went relatively smoothly. The girls had scheduled the pool for a fun day. For some reason, the guys had scheduled it for training.
Katsuki could guess whose idea that had been.
Still, it was hot, not just for him. So after spending the morning training, the guys decided to mess around in the pool for a bit.
It was fine at first. Katsuki swam well. Water never bothered him, even with other people around.
But as soon as he got out of the pool, someone bumped into him. Losing his balance, he stepped on a line without meaning to.
He froze.
He didn’t notice Eijirou approaching until a hand landed on his shoulder.
“Hey, man, are you okay?” Eijirou sounded worried.
“FUCK OFF, SHITTY HAIR.” Katsuki slapped his hand away.
He walked away without looking at him, sitting down at the edge of the pool and plunging his foot into the water, scrubbing it until the skin turned red.
When he could finally breathe again, he looked back at Eijirou.
The guy was talking with the others, laughing. He didn’t look affected by Katsuki’s outburst. But Katsuki knew him well enough to know that he was.
He approached slowly and stopped a short distance away. When Eijirou noticed him, he stepped away from the group to meet him.
“I’m sorry, Kirishima,” Katsuki muttered, barely loud enough to hear.
It was enough.
Eijirou broke into a bright smile.
“It’s okay. Hey, it’s still kinda hot, right?” he said. “Wanna stop by an ice cream place on the way home?”
Katsuki let out a small, almost hidden smile.
“Yeah. Sure.”
Ochako was hardworking. No one could deny that.
Her routine was exhausting: classes in the morning, work in the early evening, and training with whatever time remained. She barely slept.
Weekends were training too. She lifted weights while studying. Gave her all while working.
It wasn’t something her teacher, Toshinori-sensei, approved of. Even though he had said more than once that pushing past one’s limits was something heroes did, she still kept those extra training sessions to herself.
She knew there were no limits for those who truly tried.
A person could get used to sleeping less. When someone trained, they always pushed harder, because eventually, the body adapted.
That was the secret. Getting used to it. And she had.
That was why she couldn’t change her routine now that she had come this far.
[Mina♡]: hey chako
me and the girls are spending the day at the school pool
wanna come?
[Me]: Thanks for the invite
But I’m busy training today
Maybe another time
[Mina♡]: you always say that
:(
[Me]: I’m sorry
I promise I’ll make it up to you
[Mina♡]: it’s okay
<3
you work too hard
you should rest a little
[Me]: I appreciate the concern
I’ll try to take better care of myself
Have fun
Now that she had come this far, she couldn’t stop.
When she arrived at Bagodah Beach, she began as usual. With the training equipment she had brought from home, she started levitating objects and rapidly shifting their gravity.
She was getting really good at this new aspect of her quirk.
She felt her quirk falter first. That had been happening for a while now. A sign she needed to train more.
Then she trained her own gravity, changing its direction over and over, trying to reach the ground without hurting herself.
The nausea came next, but she had already learned to ignore that part.
Finally, she did regular physical exercises. Stretching. Running. Weightlifting.
It usually ended with weakness and a headache. A clear sign that it was time to go home.
But not this time.
Her balance failed first. She fell, but managed to protect her face with her hands. Her legs gave out next when she tried to stand and couldn’t.
What was happening?
She lay there on the ground, unable to get up on her own. She tried to call for help, but there was no one nearby.
“Hel-”, her voice failed, slurring as if she were under the effect of something.
It was okay. Everything would be fine. She just needed someone to find her, and she’d ask to be taken to the hospital.
But when a black pool appeared beneath her, when the beach sand was replaced by something darker and solid, and the sun by a cavernous darkness, she knew no one would find her.
Wherever she was, it wasn’t the beach anymore.
She rolled onto her side and propped herself up on her elbows. The world spun as she sat up. She leaned against a wall and stayed there.
Her thoughts were slow. Her vision wasn’t much better. It was as if she were seeing the world through a glass of water.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. But turning her head to follow it proved harder than it should have been.
It was some kind of squid. Floating.
Had she passed out on the beach? Was this a dream?
The creature approached her without hurry. She couldn’t escape either way.
But before it could reach her, someone grabbed one of the crystals around them and used it like a club, striking the creature away.
A green blur. Izuku?
“Uraraka-san! Are you okay?” he shouted, running to her side and kneeling down.
“‘Doriya… I don’ feel 'zo good-,” she mumbled.
She felt his arm slide under her legs as he picked her up. He struggled a little. She saw the dark pool appear again, and when she realized it, she was in front of the hospital.
He rushed inside with her, calling for help.
From there, she couldn’t really pay attention to what happened. A nurse asked for information, and Izuku answered for her. Her name. Her age. What had happened.
“Training exhaustion,” he said.
After that, she was placed on a gurney, taken to a white room, and examined.
As the IV drip began, she slowly started to feel better. Izuku sat beside her.
“They said you had quirk exhaustion, low blood pressure, and collapse from overexertion,” he said gently. “You’ve been training too much, haven’t you, Uraraka-san?”
She didn’t answer.
“How did you find me?” she asked, staring at her hands.
“You didn’t show up at the pool today. I thought about visiting you, but you weren’t home. Then I remembered the beach you mentioned. And that place… well. We have a history.”
At the mention of the strange place, Ochako looked up at him, interested. “Where was it?” she asked.
He sighed. “I’ll tell you when we get home.”
“Home?” she asked uncertainly.
“You can’t stay alone tonight. Doctor’s orders.”
She looked at him, confused. He knew she lived alone, right?
“You’re coming to my place,” he said, as if reading her thoughts.
They were discharged a few hours later. By the time they left, it was already night. Outside, a car was waiting.
“Yamada-sensei?” Ochako asked in surprise.
Izuku, fidgeting nervously with his hands, answered, “My dad.”
Her eyes widened. “Since when?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
During the drive, Hizashi did all the talking.
“You kids are so stubborn… Have I ever told you about the time I ended up in the hospital?… Back in my day I was just like that… That’s when Shouta and I found a cat…”
He jumped from topic to topic without pause.
Izuku listened and laughed, but Ochako noticed how he kept glancing at her.
When they arrived at the apartment, Ochako was greeted by several cats. She knelt down to pet a few of them, who clearly appreciated it.
“Cappuccino, Captain, Suzy, give her some space,” another familiar voice said from the doorway.
“Aizawa-sensei? You live here too?” Was there room for more surprises tonight?
“I do,” he said, looking more relaxed than she’d ever seen him at school. “Izuku told me you’ve been overusing your quirk. Is that true?”
She nodded, looking down.
Shouta sighed. “I should ban you from the summer camp, you know,” he said calmly.
Her eyes widened. “Please don’t, sensei-”
“But I don’t think I’d trust you alone at home for an entire week either. Let’s talk about it tomorrow, alright?”
After that, Izuku led her to his room, where Eri was.
She looked surprised. “You’re staying here too?”
Izuku laughed softly. “Just for tonight."
Ochako approached and gently patted Eri’s head.
“Eri, Uraraka-san and I need to talk for a bit, okay?” Izuku asked.
She stared at him, confused.
Hizashi appeared at the door. “Eri, sweetheart, let’s give them a moment, okay?”
She nodded and followed him, the door closing behind them.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
“I think I owe you some answers,” Izuku said at last. Ochako nodded. “That place you saw… it’s the place that took me when I was a child. My mom and me.”
She swallowed.
“I don’t really know what it is,” he continued. “Only that it’s a place that collects people… and quirks.”
“Collects?” Ochako asked, alarmed.
“In that place, you can’t really die. I mean- you can, but… you don’t stay dead." He frowned, searching for words. “When you die there too many times, you start becoming like that creature you saw. That’s what happened to my mom.”
“Oh, Izuku…” she whispered.
“I think it got interested in you. For some reason. Probably your quirk.”
“My quirk?” She looked down at her hands. “What would it do with it?”
“It’s a place that shares quirks. Uses them. Distributes them among everyone there. That’s why it was interested in me. And why it noticed you.”
She thought for a moment. “But why me? There must be thousands of people with quirks more useful than mine.”
“I have a few theories,” Izuku said. “The first is mental state. You don’t seem okay, Uraraka-san.” She looked away.
"The second is that it’s especially interested in spatial quirks. Like gravity.
The third is randomness. The least likely one. But if you put all of that together… maybe my case was random. And yours wasn’t.”
He fell silent.
It was… a lot. A place that could kidnap people. That had chosen her.
She gripped the sheets tighter.
“How…” she hesitated. “How do you get there?”
“I-I’m connected to it,” he admitted quietly, ashamed. “Since the USJ incident, I haven’t been able to disconnect from it.”
Ochako didn’t know what to say. He had saved her, but he seemed just as trapped.
“But you can go in and out, right?” she said softly. “That’s good… isn’t it?”
“I guess so,” Izuku said, frowning at his hands. “Uraraka-san… you accepted the new aspect of your quirk so easily. How did you do that?”
She looked at him. It felt simple to her, but explaining it wasn’t.
“It’s just… it’s my quirk, you know? It feels like if I try to be a hero and don’t give my absolute best, it’s like I’m failing the people I’m supposed to save.”
Izuku smiled faintly. “I see. You really are amazing, Uraraka-san.”
She blushed, but smiled back.
A knock interrupted them.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Hizashi called. “But dinner’s ready.”
They both released a breath they hadn’t realized they were holding. Izuku stood first and offered his hand. Ochako took it, and followed him out.
[Denki]: Hey, Toshi
Can you come over
Like
Right now?
Hitoshi had received that message a few minutes ago, and he was already standing in front of Denki’s house.
When he rang the doorbell, Denki appeared almost instantly.
“You got here fast,” Denki said as he opened the door. Before Hitoshi could reply, he was pulled inside.
“So… what did you want to show me?” Hitoshi asked as he was led into Denki’s bedroom.
In the middle of the room, there was a large plastic container on the floor, held shut by a backpack. Something inside it was moving.
Hitoshi stayed by the door, staring, waiting for Denki to explain.
“It’s that thing,” Denki said.
“What?” Hitoshi’s eyes widened. “How?”
“It’s been hanging around my house for a while. It got into my room while I was playing.”
Hitoshi looked at him, concerned. “Are you okay having it here? Last time I checked, you were sick not too long ago.”
“I don’t really know,” Denki shrugged. “I think I’m getting used to its existence.”
Hitoshi kept staring at the container for a moment longer.
“So,” he asked, “what do you want to do?”
Denki bit his lip. “I don’t know. I mean… I brought this thing back, right? The least I can do is take responsibility for it.”
“Are you sure?”
Denki thought for a few seconds. “I am.”
They both stared at it in silence. And now?
Denki grabbed the lid and slowly slid something underneath it, just enough to poke inside. When he nudged it, the creature climbed on top of the plastic.
Before they realized it, they were looking at an old hybrid creature contained inside a plastic bin.
“I think we only have two options,” Hitoshi said. “Take it somewhere far away… or keep it here.”
Denki thought for a moment. “It could’ve gone anywhere. But it stayed around my house,” he paused. “I don’t think it’d like being far away for long.”
“So… you’re really keeping it?” Hitoshi asked, incredulous.
Denki grimaced. “What choice do I have?”
Denki left the room, leaving Hitoshi alone with the thing. He came back about two minutes later, holding a bunch of grapes. When Hitoshi looked at him questioningly, Denki just shrugged.
He cracked the lid open just enough to toss them inside. The creature lunged forward, devouring them greedily.
“So where are you going to keep it?” Hitoshi asked. “In that container?”
“I can’t. It’s my mom’s,” Denki replied. They fell quiet for a moment.
“There’s a carrier at my place,” Denki added. “Izu forgot it there once.”
At the mention of Izuku, Hitoshi felt a sharp pang of guilt, but said nothing.
“We can keep it there until tomorrow. Then maybe… we buy a cage?”
“That works,” Denki said.
They secured the backpack on top again, and this time Hitoshi slid a ruler into the small gap under the lid so air could get in.
They started walking toward Hitoshi’s house. Along the way, Denki kept throwing out name ideas.
“We can’t keep calling it ‘the thing,’ right?”
But Hitoshi barely responded. A bad feeling was settling deep in his stomach.
“What do you think? Volts or Bolt?”
No answer.
“Denki…” Hitoshi hesitated. Should he ask? “That time you got sick. You brought Iida back, didn’t you?”
Denki stopped walking. His face went blank, shadowed.
I knew it.
Denki started crying. “I’m sorry…”
“How could you?” Hitoshi wanted to be angry. Bringing someone, an actual person, back to life had to violate every law of nature. It wasn’t normal. It shouldn’t be possible. And yet-
He looked into Denki’s eyes, but Denki didn’t look back.
“I couldn’t just leave him. He needed me.”
Hitoshi stepped closer and-
He hugged him.
“You shouldn’t have carried this alone,” Hitoshi said softly, running a hand through Denki’s hair. “I’m your friend. I’m here.”
Denki looked surprised for a second, then hugged him back.
“I’m sorry-I didn’t know what to do,” he sobbed into Hitoshi’s shoulder. “I should’ve told you.”
That sentence hurt more than it should have.
Hitoshi thought of Izuku. Of his secret. It was Izuku’s fault. But-
Just like he couldn’t be angry at Denki, he couldn’t be angry at Izuku either.
Should he tell him?
“No more secrets,” Denki murmured.
Hitoshi held his breath.
He opened his mouth.
And closed it.
“Yeah,” he said. “No more secrets.”
“Come on,” Denki said, grabbing Hitoshi’s hand so they could keep walking. “Bolt’s home alone.”
Hitoshi smiled.
It's only for a while, he thought, Izuku will tell him.