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Ochako woke up before the sun, freezing cold. She sat up, pushing the top of her bedroll back. That was a mistake—it was even colder in the open air. Quickly she hunkered down again, pulling the lip of the bedroll back over her head. Then she curled up, drawing her knees into her chest.
That was a little better, but she wasn’t exactly comfortable either. At least the shock had woken her up a little—her mind was clear enough now to realize that the cold had woken her up. Now she remembered yesterday, remembered hearing Iida talk about the incoming cold front. Maybe she should have listened to his related admonitions a little harder.
She took a moment to steel herself. Then she reached her arm out and grabbed the sweatshirt she’d taken off before bed last night. It took a little maneuvering, but she was able to put it on without leaving the shelter of her futon.
It was the only thing she would be able to do from here.
Bracing herself, Ochako flung the comforter back. Then she jumped up, ran across the room to the kerosene heater, and hit the power button with her mittoned hand. Then she darted back to her futon and dove under the cover.
She was still cold—it would take a few minutes for the heater to get going. It was alright though, since she’d need to stay awake for a little while, so that she could turn the heater off again after the room warmed up. It probably wouldn’t be safe to leave it running all night.
It was difficult to tell the passage of time. Ochako felt like the temperature should have changed by now, but that might have only been because she wanted it to change already. Finally, she braced herself and went back to check on the heater. Nothing seemed to have happened—every part of it was cold to the touch. Had it been on already? She pressed the button again. But no, then the room wouldn’t have been so cold. She pressed the power again. Then she stood up and flipped the light switch.
The light didn’t come on.
Ochako bit her lip. That wasn’t particularly encouraging, but it might explain some things. Just in case, she went into the bathroom and tried that light. It didn’t turn on either. Then she grabbed her phone and her keys, put on her coat and her shoes, and headed out to investigate.
It was the middle of the night, so she wouldn’t be able to reach her landlord, but a few people were meandering outside her apartment complex. She thought she recognized one of them—she’d passed that woman on the stairs before.
“Excuse me,” Ochako said, walking up to her, “Is the power out in the whole building?"
"The whole street," the woman said, pointing down the road, "I heard it was a quirk manifestation."
"Oh, thanks!" Ochako said, heart sinking. A manifestation meant it was unlikely anyone would know how the quirk worked. There was no telling when the effect would end.
"A powerful quirk," the woman said, almost wistful. Then her gaze focused on Ochako. "Honey, tell your parents that the heroes set up a shuttle at the end of the street. You all can get to a hotel—there's a form you can fill out on your phone, and the commission will reimburse you for your room."
Ochako nodded, reeling a little from the rush of information, from the gap in understanding between them. Her parents were in another city, reimburse implied she had money to pay with up front, and she couldn't fill out a web form on her flip phone anyway.
"Did you get all that?" the woman asked, a note of concern entering her voice, "I can come with you and tell your parents myself."
"No worries!" Ochako said, smiling as wide as she could, "I think I have it covered."
Ochako's alternative plan had been to just go back to her room. In the morning, when her parents were awake, she could ask them to loan her some money and direct them to fill out the form on their laptop—that is, if the power hadn't come back on its own by then. She slept without the heater at night anyway. It couldn't be that bad.
It was that bad.
Even wearing leggings, sweatpants, a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie, her coat, gloves, a hat, and three pairs of socks, she couldn't get warm enough to sleep.
Finally, Ochako sat up. She was shivering, which was a good sign—it meant she wasn't actually hypothermic, even if she wasn't particularly comfortable either.
But really, if she was going to be awake anyway, she might as well take a walk to warm up.
It was still dark—in the sky and on the street. Ochako set off down the empty sidewalk, tilting her head up, looking for a constellation. But even though this area was dark, the rest of the city lights sent out a pale haze, blocking all but the brightest few stars. This still wasn't the country sky she'd grown up with.
She was alone—everyone else had already taken shelter elsewhere. Belatedly, Ochako realized that if she'd been a little less proud, she could have explained her situation to someone and asked for help. Even now, her cell phone was in her pocket. She could call someone if she got out of range of the quirk. But even so, would any of her friends be awake at this hour?
"Uraraka!"
Ochako snapped her gaze back down to her surroundings, just in time to see Deku materialize in front of her, little trails of power still sparking off of him.
"We couldn't find you!" Deku said. He was in civilian clothes, bundled up like she was. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Ochako said, nearly slamming her teeth together as she spoke.
"Are you sure?" Deku said. "When we got the alert about the quirk incident we came to look for you, because we knew your apartment was inside the effect radius. But the shuttle driver said she hadn't seen you, and we couldn't find you anywhere! Are you really okay? I can bring you to—"
"Don't!" Ochako said, grabbing his wrist. She was afraid he'd spring away again. "I'm okay—there's nothing urgent! You don't have to use your quirk. I just went back to my room to try and sleep."
"Okay," Deku said. He didn't quite look like he believed her, but he did drop full cowling. Then he stepped to the side.
Todoroki ran up from behind him, not even wearing a coat. In lieu of a greeting he reached up and set his right hand against Ochako's cheek.
Instantly, Ochako felt herself thaw out. It was like stopping after a long day, letting your breathing slow and steady. She hadn't realized until now how much the cold was really affecting her.
"Show off," Ochako said.
Todoroki started pulling his hand away, but Ochako grabbed it and pushed it back.
"Not that!" she said, "Keep doing that! But you aren't even wearing a jacket!"
"I gave it to Bakugou," Todoroki said.
Ochako looked past him. Bakugou had approached while she was distracted, and sure enough, he was drowning in two sets of winter gear, looking for all the world like a cat who had gotten a bath.
"Kacchan hates the cold," Deku explained.
Todoroki leaned closer to her, almost conspiratorial. "I did offer to hold his hand."
Ochako snorted.
"Can we stop chit chatting and get out of here?" Bakugou demanded.
"Right!" Deku said, turning back to Ochako, "We were thinking that you could come stay the night in my room."
"Um," Ochako said.
"Because we're all having a sleepover in the living room," Bakugou said. He kicked Deku in the shin. "His room will be empty anyway."
"Or you could come to the sleepover," Todoroki said, "We're watching ten All Might movies back to back. I'm sure Midoriya could recap the first four and a half of—"
"That's stupid," Bakugou interjected. "She can't start partway through the series. And anyway, I'm better than Deku at recapping information because I don't go off on a million tangents."
Deku pushed his shoulder. "You're just grumpy because the alert came in right before your favorite fight scene."
"Is your Mom there?" Ochako asked.
"Oh!" Deku said, turning back to her, "My Mom? Yes! She's asleep though—we didn't want to wake her up."
"Okay," Ochako said, because her friends weren't the kind of people to leave well enough alone, and she couldn't very well go back to her own house, and most of all, because she really wanted to. "I'll come. Just nobody tell Mina."