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The first few days of school are always at least a bit hectic, especially at a new school. And UA was quickly proving that hectic was the baseline there, so the first few days were far more than Ochako had been expecting. Sure, it being the most prestigious hero school in the country had implied things would be very different and unexpected compared to her middle school, but the hero school apparently lived up to it’s ‘Plus Ultra’ motto in ways she couldn't have possibly imagined.
For one her teachers were all Pro Heroes, which was both exciting and weirdly mundane once the initial surprise wore off. Not completely mundane, of course, as all her teachers had proven to be very, well, quirky. Even her homeroom teacher, despite being impossible to get a read on (some strange mix somewhere between cruel hardass, strict taskmaster, and lazy mentor). From Present Mic’s bombastic personality, to Snipe’s dedication to the Wild West theme down to the anachronistic accent, to the All Might’s surprising dorkishness, to Midnight’s, well, everything, she’d never had such unique and varied teachers.
Even the other students lived up to the Plus Ultra extra-ness of the school!
But really the best part, Ochako thought as she walked home after the third day, was that they all accepted her. Sure she hadn’t actually told anyone except for some of the staff, but most of her teachers knew, along with some of the students (she was pretty sure, at least), and not a single one treated her differently than the other girls.
After Iida had been granted the role of Class President, he’d pulled her aside and–in his humorously strict dedication to all things orderly and good–had very kindly, if somewhat insensitively, told her to come to him if anyone ever gave her any trouble, and if she ever needed any help getting access to needed resources. It had been awkward of course, but Ochako had very quickly become accustomed to Iida’s very well-meaning if rather bull-in-a-china-shop style.
She'd politely thanked him for his acceptance and offer of help, and explained not to approach others like her in the same manner until after they'd come out on their own terms. He'd graciously thanked her in turn and even made a whole vow to follow her advice. That had ironically lightened the mood and earned more than a few giggles from her.
Hilariously, Deku had clocked her immediately, but somehow hadn’t fully realized that until after her talk with Iida. She thinks he was up to the 10th gender-affirming or queer-supportive absent-minded statement by that point. It was as if his mouth was apologizing for his brain being too busy and cluttered, and every time it happened she couldn't help but giggle, struggling hard to keep from cackling.
Then he’d, out of curiosity, asked what she and Iida had been talking about that left her almost in hysterics and him happily yet confusedly flustered. Deku had then immediately launched into what seemed to be a self-debate mumble-storm, during which he apparently had a "Eureka!" moment and shouted it outloud to himself, which in turn prompted a lot of bowing and apologies for just blurting it out. They’d been alone for a while at that point, walking to the station, so it wasn’t like there was any actual risk of him accidentally outing her, and she’d already learned that Deku was a rather… anxious person. Once she’d finally gotten him to stop apologizing and self-deprecating, they'd moved right on to talking about heroes again, as if such a big thing wasn’t a big deal at all.
As for the girls, Jirou and Ashido at least suspected, and Tsuyu had for sure figured it out, but they all politely didn’t bring any attention to her and just made her feel welcome with the rest of the girls.
It was… really nice, being treated as just a regular girl. Not even a girl* like some people did at her last school, but just a regular, normal girl.
So nice in fact, that Ochako almost didn’t notice the literal shining rift in reality that opened up a good seven meters in the air in the alley as she rounded the corner to her apartment, which then dumped what appeared to be a large grey metal mask of some kind, a giant three-bladed spear, and a two-and-a-half meter tall person in a white, silver, and black suit of armor onto the concrete.
“Oh my gosh are you ok!?” she yelled, rushing over to help the groaning figure. Armor or not, that kind of fall could hurt just about anyone.
Groaning, the armored figure shook their head and took her hand. As they did so, Ochako realized that they were not, in fact, wearing a suit of armor. While some of the metal clearly was armor, the vast majority of it was actually part of their body. Some odd blend of biological tissue and muscle and metal structure and mechanics. Not like a stereotypical sci-fi cyborg either, but an actual perfect blend of biology and mechanics making up their entire body.
Certainly among the most striking mutations Ochako had ever seen, even on TV!
"Are you hurt? Do you know where you are?"
The stranger stood up to their full height and gave her a look of confusion (turns out their helm was oddly expressive, with strangely malleable eyes and mouth) before saying something in a language Ochako didn't even remotely recognize. They held up a hand, assumedly asking her to wait a moment, then reached into a hard backpack Ochako hadn't even noticed since it seemed a part of their armor. The stranger pulled out what appeared to be another grey metal mask, this one shaped like Ochako's own helmet from her hero costume, minus the looped antennae. Reaching up their other hand to their face, they pulled off what turned out not to be a helm, but yet another mask. Ochako watched in awe as it drained of color, the shining black turning to the same slate grey as the other two.
So focused on the color change, she only caught a glimpse of the stranger's robotic face before they slipped on the new one, it now gaining color, changing to the same shining black as the other one had while worn. Then it started to glow, and Ochako felt a brief and odd sensation, like a small gentle wave of water washing over her mind.
"Hope this works. Ahem," the figure said, causing Ochako to jump as she was distracted by their still glowing mask. "Sorry to drop in on you like that, but thanks for the help! Though, could you tell me where I am? I'm assuming not Metru Nui, since I've never seen buildings like this before."
'Uhm. Mustafu, Japan?"
"Hm, never heard of either of those. Oh! Sorry, I'm Takanuva, what's your name?" they asked, extending a closed fist forward between them.
"I'm Ochako Uraraka," she said with a bow and more than a little confusion, before hesitantly bumping her fist to Takanuva's. As soon as she made contact they gasped and suddenly, but gently, grabbed her arm in one hand, gently poking it with the other.
"I've never met a full organic before! I mean, there were fully organic plants on Mata Nui, but never a person! That's so cool, is everyone here like that? Even the other species?"
Ochako was thoroughly confused now, but couldn't help but let out a small giggle. They just reminded her so much of Deku!
Before Ochako could even attempt to start answering the deluge of questions or ask any of her own, she felt a drop of water on her arm. Then another, and another. Both her and Takanuva let out a gasp as they looked up, a downpour quickly starting.
"Come on! My apartment's just around the corner!" she shouted, quickly grabbing the large mask off the floor before snatching Takanuva's wrist and running.
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Out of all the places Takanuva had been, this was by far the strangest. And he'd literally been hopping through dimensions!
But here he was, in the odd dwelling of the equally odd organic being he'd just met. Ochako Uraraka was kind, about the height of a matoran, and spoke with a cheery feminine voice that reminded him of Hahli. He didn't want to assume their gender though, as he had no idea how organic people thought or functioned. Anything was possible!
They'd offered him a spot on the seat called a "couch", but it looked so soft and fragile that Takanuva worried it wouldn't support his weight, so he'd opted to sit on the floor instead. Ochako Uraraka had then turned on the small free-standing screen to "Daily Hero News" before going into the back of the home to make something called "tea".
Even though Takanuva had stopped concentrating on the Kanohi Rau, figuring it'd be better to take a break while his host was busy, and so couldn't understand what the people on the screen were saying, it was fascinating. For one it seemed to confirm that at least most everyone here was purely organic. He was also surprised at just how varied they were. All kinds of different shapes, sizes, and colors; though Takanuva couldn't tell if they were a bunch of different species or all the same one as Ochako Uraraka.
But most interestingly he saw that even though this world didn't have Toa, they had a lot of heroes. With an astounding amount of unique powers too!
Now, Takanuva knew he'd already stayed longer than he should have. He had a Kanohi Olmak now, he could summon a portal whenever he wanted (and this one should be able to take him exactly where he needed to go finally). But... this was the first time he had the chance to take a break and catch his breath. He'd been either running or fighting in every world, including his own!
Plus, though they hadn't said anything yet, his Toa-senses (or trouble-compass as Jaller called it) told him that Ochako Uraraka needed his help. And just because it (probably) wasn't world or life-saving help like his previous stopping points, didn't mean it wasn't important! After all, how many times had each of the Toa Nuva paused to help him out along their way?
Speaking of his host, Takanuva heard his name called as they approached, carrying a small tray with a couple cups and an odd container of some sort, like a bulbous jar with a spout.
"I have no idea if you're even able to drink this, being an alien and all, but it would be pretty rude of me not to at least offer," Ochako Uraraka said, setting the tray down and pouring a hot, green-tinted liquid into the cups.
Curious, Takanuva gave the what-he-assumed-to-be-tea a taste, only to jolt in revulsion, nearly dropping the fragile cup. "Sorry!" he said sheepishly. "Looks like I cannot."
"That's ok!" Ochako Uraraka said, sounding a bit distant with their multi-colored eyes wider than before. After a brief pause, without taking their eyes off him, they then pinched themself on the arm. "Ow."
"Are you ok!?"
Ochako Uraraka shook their head quickly, though Takanuva could tell it was more to clear their head than as a response. "Yeah, I'm ok! Sorry, it's just hard to believe I have a real live alien in my apartment."
Takanuva let out a good laugh. “I know what you mean; it’s hard to believe I’m in a world of organics now!”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask: what do you mean by ‘organics’? I know you’re super mechanical and stuff, but aren’t your fleshy bits organic?”
“Oh! Well, I’m not too sure on the actual science behind it; I just know that most everything in my world is made of different kinds of this material called protodermis, including both my mechanical and ‘fleshy bits’. I’ve been to one place where there were things not like that, and the Turaga said living things not made of protodermis were organic,” Takanuva said, wishing he’d paid more attention to the Turaga’s lessons.
“Wow! So you’re like really alien. I’m glad you can still breathe the air here!”
“Haha, me too! It does feel a little weird, but that would really suck if I couldn’t breathe it at all. I don’t think you’d be able to activate the mask to send me home!”
“That reminds me!” Ochako Uraraka said in a bit of excitement. “Why is your mask glowing? Is that what you mean by activate it?”
“Yep! This is the Kanohi Rau, which allows me to understand any language. It doesn’t take as much concentration as most other masks, but it is still kinda taxing, so I can’t keep it up for too long before needing a break. The mask you first saw me wearing was the Kanohi Avohkii, which lets me boost my light powers and spread emotional understanding between people.”
“That’s amazing! But wait, light powers?"
Takanuva chuckled, then darkened the room by drawing most of the light into himself, channeling it into a glowing orb above his outstretched palm. "Like all Toa, I have the power to command one element of the world, in my case: Light. These powers give us the ability to fight against evil and protect our people, the Matoran."
Ochako Uraraka gasped and stared in awe at the orb of light. "So you're a hero!"
"Yeah," Takanuva said, letting the light in the room go back to normal. "Though it's still weird to think of myself as one. Not even a year ago I was just a weird Matoran who didn't really fit in anywhere, too curious for my own good. Pretty sure the Turaga only made me Chronicler because I was constantly getting into trouble anyway, haha!"
"Chronicler?"
"Ah right. The Chronicler is a matoran whose duty is to travel around and record important events. The most common form being the deeds and battles of the Toa. And since I was exploring and getting in trouble so much, I was around the Toa a lot."
"You remind me of my friend, Deku!" his host said with a laugh.
"Deku?"
"My classmate at UA. He's always running after heroes to write about them in his notebook. He really loves heroes. Sometimes I think he'll pass out from excitement when I remind him that we're going to be heroes ourselves soon enough!'"
That made sense. Takanuva himself wished he had had a tablet to record everything right now, and it was very exciting to be a Toa just like his heroes. "Does that mean you have powers like the heroes I saw on the screen?"
"Yeah!" Ockako Uraraka said with excitement, nodding their head vigorously. "Most everyone in this world has powers, though we call them Quirks. Mine is called Zero Gravity, and it lets me cancel the gravity of anything I touch with all five of the pads on my fingers!"
They held up one hand with fingers splayed to show off the little pads on the tips and reached out to their now-empty cup with the other. There was a small flash of pink light as all five fingers touched and the cup started to float up into the air.
Takanuva was reminded of the Bohrok-kal, and how one had complete control of gravity. Even only a portion of that power could accomplish a lot! Now he really wanted something to take records with.
"Oh! One second," Ochako Uraraka said, shooting up from the small table and dashing into the adjacent room. A brief moment later they returned, handing him two strange objects. One was a rectangle of what resembled thin white leaves bound together on one side. The other was a thin clear cylinder with a pointed metallic tip and what looked like some kind of black liquid inside. "You were making motions with your hand like Deku does when he's itching to take notes. So I figured you could use my spare notebook and pen."
"Oh, thank you!" Takanuva said, experimentally touching the pointed end of the pen to the first blank leaf in the notebook. It felt like he was trying to use a twig to write it was so small! The liquid in the pen was like some kind of quick-drying paint, though he found that it needed some time to dry or it would smear. Overall while this was faster than his usual tablets, he worried about the longevity.
Oh well, he could always copy it to stone later! For now he quickly wrote down the things he'd seen and discussed so far while his host got a new cup of what he assumed was water.
"Thanks again, Ochako Uraraka! I have some friends back home who would love to learn about this world."
"Just call me Uraraka, and of course! I know a lot of people here would love to learn more about you, though some probably wouldn't be very... nice about it. But Deku would be! I wonder if I could get him over here." Another rumble of thunder reminded the pair of the storm raging outside, and Uraraka deflated.
"Sorry," Takanuva said sheepishly. "I'd love to meet him, but how long do storms last here?"
"Well it's not monsoon season thankfully, so not too long. I think this one is only supposed to last a couple hours? So it should be over just before nightfall. And I don't think Deku's mom would let him come over after dark, especially to a girl's place alone."
"Why's that?" Takanuva asked absently, realizing he'd forgotten to ask for gender clarification earlier. "Wait. Is it bad for me to be here then, since I'm a guy?"
Uraraka turned a bright pink at that, which was both amazing and confusing. "W-well I probably should've told my parents I'd be taking you here. But I'm helping you so it's fine! As for uh Deku... it's more because um we're not adults yet, so parents uh don't like kids our age spending the night alone together. At least not without a lot of discussing with them first. For uh... sexual reasons."
Uraraka's voice was incredibly shrill, practically a whisper by the end. There were some words Takanuva didn't understand, but given her clear embarrassment, he'd chalk it up to cultural reasons.
"Sorry for the weird questions. I should really get going after the storm ends anyway. I'm on a mission to help my friends after all!"
"Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to keep you from your mission!"
"No, that's ok!" Takanuva reassured. "It's better to open a portal outside, and I needed the break anyway! Things have been kinda nonstop since I left Metru Nui, and something tells me this will be my last break for a while, so I appreciate your hospitality. Really!"
"If you're sure..." Uraraka said, calming down. "What's your mission? And what’s it been like travelling the multiverse?"
"Well my friends are out trying to save the world right now, and I have to get an important message to them so they can survive the aftermath. As for my journey, it's been pretty crazy! None of the other worlds have been as different as yours, most at least somewhat resembled my own, but it's still been a wild ride."
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Ochako listened with rapt attention as Takanuva recounted his astounding journey, writing as fast as she could in what was supposed to be her math notebook (she'd have to ask Deku for a new one tomorrow, she was sure he had at least one extra he'd be willing to trade in exchange for the signature of an alien hero).
Once he finished telling her how he escaped the world ruled by evil Toa they both sat in silence for a bit, him resting as she absorbed it all and finished her notes.
"And you still find it hard to believe you're a hero now?!" she asked, somewhat incredulous after the deluge of heroic actions she'd just heard.
"Well, yes? No? Like I said, it's weird. I know I've done plenty of things only a Toa could, and that feels awesome! But it's also just... hard to internalize, I guess? Does that make sense?"
Ochako felt like she'd been struck by lightning. Hadn't she been thinking something extremely similar the past couple days?
"I- yeah. That does make sense," she said, voice barely a whisper as she stared down at her hands.
Should she ask him about it? He had a lot of life experience, and seemed to know the feeling.
"Are you ok?" Then after a minute, "Uraraka?"
Could she ask him? Sure she'd come out to strangers before with her new teachers and Recovery Girl, but this would be the first time doing so without needing to. But here was someone she would never have to worry about encountering again if it went wrong, and they needed to leave soon anyway. So really, wasn’t he the best possible stranger to test coming out to?
“Can- can I ask you for some advice? On something… personal?”
Takanuva looked at her a little confused. “Uh sure. Though I don’t know how much I’ll be able to give.”
“I…” Ochako took a couple deep breaths. Here it goes. Now or never. “I wasn’t always a girl!”
She slammed her eyes shut, awaiting the disgust or anger. But as a minute passed, nothing happened.
“Ok?” Takanuva asked, sounding like he was expecting something more.
Hesitantly Ochako cracked an eye open, and found Takanuva sitting there the same as before, looking at her patiently and with only the slightest hint of confusion.
“Um, well,” Ochako said, still nervous despite his seeming acceptance, tapping her fingers together gently. “Growing up, I was raised a boy. Only, I never really fit in.”
“‘You were always different’,” Takanuva said quietly, almost reverently. Looking up, she saw he now had a look of recognition.
Maybe… he understood better than she expected. “I… yeah. And- and it took me a long time to figure out why. But thankfully my parents and teachers were super supportive. Thanks to them, I was able to transition really smoothly. And now I’m at a new school, where everyone only knows me as a girl. And even the people who know I wasn’t always still treat me as one! And just… it’s like you said earlier. It feels awesome but it’s also super weird. Like… I feel like I’m dreaming, even though I know I’m not. Does that make sense?”
Takanuva had been nodding along with what seemed like increasing amounts of excitement. “Yeah, it does! I may not have understood everything you just said, but I do know what it’s like to not fit in, to be meant to be something else, to struggle with a journey in here.” He tapped a finger to the glowing light in the center of his chest.
“I may have always been a guy, but I wasn’t always a Toa. In this world most people may have powers, and you can study to become a hero, but in mine, while anyone can be a hero, it requires a bit of destiny to become a Toa.”
Once again Ochako listened, enraptured, as Takanuva told her of his homeworld. Of cultures based on elemental affinity, and how he never truly fit in with any of them. Of how no matter what label he tried, they never truly fit. Of how it took him a literal quest and his best friend dying (even if only temporarily) to figure out who he was. And how he was feeling the same things as her: the euphoria at discovering and being your true self, the nervousness and doubt of doing it correctly, the love and joy at being accepted for it all, and the sheer feeling of unreality from the whole experience.
By the end of it, Ochako had brought Takanuva up to his feet and wrapped him in a hug, tears in her eyes at having someone who didn’t just accept her, but understood. Sure his journey and struggles hadn’t been about gender, but they’d been about identity all the same.
“Thank you,” she said, pulling away from the hug and futilely attempting to dry her tears. Any more crying and she’d be competing with Deku!
He chuckled in response. “It’s nice to meet someone who understands, isn’t it? My sister.”
“I- I would be honored. My brother,” Ochako said, touching her fist to his. “You think these feelings will fade eventually?” “Probably. Though as weird as they are, I don’t think they’re all bad. Reminds us of who we were, and what it took to get here, right?”
Ochako nodded, this time sitting down next to him. “Yeah. Even if it wasn’t all good, we can be proud of what we overcame!” As the excitement died down, another thought struck her. “Was it really weird interacting with your old friends too?”
“Yeah. It actually made me doubt myself a little bit. Because now I felt like an outsider, you know?” Ochako nodded emphatically. “That feeling has mostly faded now thankfully, though I think it was sped along by a bunch of them running away and becoming Toa themselves!”
“Oh wow! That’s hilarious!” Ochako said, trying to contain her laughter. She tried to imagine what it would feel like if she went home and found that some of her old classmates had transitioned while she was gone, and was unable to keep the laughter in any longer.
“Yeah! It was quite a shock when I heard about it!” Takanuva laughed along with her.
“Again, thank you, Takanuva. This really helped me.”
Takanuva bumped his elbow to her shoulder playfully. “Of course! And thank you, it really helped me too. And I didn’t even know I needed it!”
They sat in comfortable silence for a bit, simply enjoying the presence of someone they could truly connect to, despite the literal universes of differences.
“Now, I’m sure we both have millions of more questions for each other, but is it ok if we took a short break?” Takanuva asked. “We can watch the heroes again on the screen! That way I can take a little break from this mask.”
“Sure! Oh, I know! You could put your first mask back on and we can take some pictures!”
“Oh, sure!”
Ochako ran to her room to grab the old cheap camera her parents had gotten her as a gift for getting into UA, excited to finally use it. A quick photoshoot later and the pair was watching TV again (this time all she could find was one of those dumb hero gossip shows, but since Takanuva couldn’t understand Japanese right now, she was sure it was fine) with Takanuva taking taking notes while she tried to get a start on her homework. Good thing there wasn’t too much today, otherwise she’d be up all night after the busy evening!
Once the gossip show ended, Takanuva put his translation mask back on and the pair spent the rest of the storm swapping questions about their different worlds and physiology. It kind of sucked that neither of them knew much about the sciences, but even still that had more than enough questions to fill their time.
But unfortunately all things must come to an end, and with the storm so to did their time together.
“So… how are you going to open up another portal?” Ochako asked, trying and failing to not stall for time.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the large mask you picked up earlier! It’s the Kanohi Olmak, which allows the wearer to open up dimensional gates to anywhere they desire, including, obviously, other universes.” Ochako scrunched her brow in confusion. “Wait. So if it can take you anywhere you want. How did you end up bouncing through so many different universes? Wouldn’t you have just… portalled right to your friends?” Takanuva chuckled sheepishly. “So this isn’t exactly the Olmak from my home universe. That one was worn by someone else and was… damaged. Masks don’t work very well when damaged, so it kinda sent me to a random universe instead. I really lucked out landing in one that had the capability to send me to another one like my home universe, with it’s own Olmak. From there it was trying to hit the right one of the universes that paralleled my own. Haven’t yet, but I’m much more hopeful this time around!” “But then how did you end up here if you were shooting for the parallel ones?” “I may have uh… stolen… the Olmak in the Empire universe. And uh, in the heat of battle just kind of… activated it without really thinking of a destination?”
Ochako blinked, watching the embarrassed giant of flesh and metal before her. “YOU COULD HAVE DROPPED INTO A STAR! OR A UNIVERSE OF GIANT METAL EATING MONSTERS! YOU COULD’VE BEEN MONSTER FOOD!!”
“Could’ve been. But I’m not!” Takanuva said with a cheesy grin and the experience of it being a goddamn catch-phrase. Stars above he really was just like Deku “could’ve been paste on the concrete but I’m not” Midoriya.
Ochako barely resisted the urge to slam her face into her door as they exited the apartment, settling for a hard facepalm instead. From there they walked in a slightly apprehensive silence back to the alley where they’d first met.
It was hard to believe that had only been a few hours ago.
Exchanging quick hugs and a fist-bump, Takanuva slipped on the large mask, another shining rift in reality opening up in front of them (thankfully at ground level this time).
“Well, guess this is goodbye,” her giant metal friend said.
“Will I ever see you again?” she asked, not even trying to stop the tears in her eyes.
“If destiny allows it. By Mata Nui, I will do everything in my power to visit. Can’t leave my new sister to fend all for herself, can I?” Ochako chuckled through the tears. “That’s right! Now go, go save your friends.”
“And you go become a hero with yours. I’m sure you’ll be a great one.”
With those parting words, Takanuva walked into the portal, closing it behind him. Allowing herself a moment to shed some tears over the brief but impactful friendship, Ochako returned to her apartment feeling sad yet more sure of herself than she had in ages.
Tomorrow would be a new day, and Ochako Uraraka would meet it with all the strength of will of a hero resolute in her identity.