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Ochako is tasked with escorting Toga to the bathroom, because she’s a good student, and Toga is not. Ochako is the sort of kid teachers can trust to run errands for them; the one who gets paired up with troublemakers because she won’t encourage their antics. So of course, when Toga begs their teacher to let her go to the bathroom because she’s feeling sick, Ochako is the one asked to walk with her. To make sure she doesn’t run off, or kill somebody, or whatever.
Ochako doesn’t glance back at her friends as she holds the door open for Toga. The other girl does look paler than usual, and she’s not making any commentary on the situation—either good or bad—which makes Ochako think she really is sick. She trails a few steps behind Toga as they walk through the empty halls, footsteps echoing around them, watching silently.
Toga is a strange girl.
She transferred halfway through last semester, and rumors followed her—about how she’d murdered a classmate at her previous school, so she could drink his blood. Toga herself had done nothing to discredit the gossip, merely shrugging and offering a fanged smile when asked about it. And while Ochako isn’t sure what she believes, she has to admit there’s something uncanny about Toga.
But there’s something intriguing, too.
As soon as they make it to the bathroom, Toga locks herself in a stall, leaving Ochako to linger by the sinks. She plays with the hem of her skirt, traces her fingers along the edges of the sinks, paces the length of the room several times, and waits.
And waits.
And waits.
Finally, she knocks on the door to Toga’s stall. “Um, are you okay? I can take you to the nurse instead, if you need.”
“’m fine.” Toga groans out. “Oww…”
Ochako hesitates. She glances around, but it’s just the two of them in here, so she can’t look to anyone else for assistance. She could go back to the classroom and inform their teacher that she thinks Toga needs to see the nurse—and maybe go home—but she’s not supposed to leave Toga. So. She’s a little stuck.
“A-are you sure?”
“Mhm.”
Silence stretches on for several moments. The air conditioning kicks on, which at least eases the dead quiet, though it doesn’t exactly soothe Ochako’s discomfort or the sinking feeling that something is wrong.
Ochako sighs, leaning back against the stall door. “You’re not really acting like yourself, you know. That’s how I can tell you’re sick for real. Even if Kusakabe-sensei didn’t believe you.”
Toga responds with a stilted, “Huh?”
“You’re not talking,” Ochako explains. “And you didn’t say anything about how happy you were that I got to be the one to walk you here.” It’s no secret that Toga has some strange fascination with Ochako—probably because she’s the only one in their class who doesn’t outright shun Toga. The others are always calling her a freak or a vampire or a villain, but Ochako doesn’t think that’s very fair. Even if her quirk is activated by drinking blood, she hasn’t drank anyone’s blood since she transferred to this school.
At least…not that Ochako is aware of.
So Ochako treats Toga the same as she does the rest of her classmates, and Toga has taken that as a token of friendship, and Ochako just sort of lets her. Her other friends tell her she needs to distance herself before Toga eats her alive or something, but Ochako sincerely doubts she’s actually going to do that. This isn’t even the first time Ochako has been entrusted to escort Toga somewhere, leaving the two of them alone together, because Toga is always more willing to do what she’s told if Ochako is doing it with her. And Toga has yet to do anything scarier than telling Ochako she’d like to taste her blood.
“Oh,” Toga mumbles. She sniffs.
Ochako makes a startled noise. “Ah, sorry— I didn’t mean to—!”
The door unlatches, and Ochako hardly has a chance to stand upright before it swings open. In a blink, Toga is throwing her arms around Ochako, burying her face in her neck and sniveling miserably. “You’re so nice to me, Ochako-chan!” she wails. “No one’s ever—said anything like that to me before.”
“Um.” Haltingly, Ochako lifts a hand to cradle the back of Toga’s head. Her hair is falling loose from its typical space bun styling, and she feels warm. A fever, probably. It would explain why she’s overly emotional too. “Can I take you to the nurse’s office?”
Toga shakes her head. “I don’t want to go home. I just want to stay with you.”
Ochako grimaces. She doesn’t want to go home? But she’s clearly not feeling well, and she doesn’t seem like one of those kids who loves school. And she didn’t insist on staying because she’s afraid of missing lessons. Ochako really doesn’t like the conclusion that leads her to draw, but she’s not sure what she’s supposed to do about it.
Think, Ochako, she tells herself. You want to be a hero, right? What would a hero do?
But a hero would have a lot more resources than Ochako does right now.
“What if I promise not to let the nurse send you home?” Ochako offers. She’s not entirely sure she can really do that, but she can try her best at least. And maybe Toga will explain why she doesn’t want to go home to the nurse, who will be able to help better than Ochako can. Sometimes, heroes need help from other heroes will skills better suited to the job.
“Okay,” Toga mumbles. She lifts her head, weakly wiping her eyes and nose with her sleeve. When that does very little to clean her face, Ochako turns to grab a paper towel and wet it down, cleaning away the snot and tears herself. Toga stands still, intermittently sniffling but otherwise making no indication that she even realizes what Ochako is doing.
Until she turns to throw the paper towels in the trash and gets a soft, “Thank you, Ochako-chan.”
Ochako smiles warmly. “It’s no problem. C’mon, let’s get you to the nurse.”
Toga nods sullenly. Ochako offers her hand, hoping that will make this a bit more bearable for Toga, but Toga just stares at her like she’s grown a second head.
Ochako starts to retract her arm. “You don’t have to—”
“NO!” Toga lunges for her, snatching Ochako’s hand and holding on tightly. Her nails dig into the soft flesh, but Ochako finds she doesn’t mind the sting. She presses close to Ochako’s side, head leaning against Ochako’s shoulder, as they exit the bathroom and head towards the nurse’s office.
And Ochako silently promises herself that she’ll make sure Toga is okay.
If everyone else wants to call Toga a villain, then Ochako will be her hero.