Chapter Text
A chill hung in the air as the scent of salt drifted up from the ocean beneath the island hotel’s walkways. Moonlight washed over the old stones, turning them blue and cold beneath her fingertips. Soft footsteps echoed as a girl approached the lone mailbox at the end of the path.
Her fingers fidgeted with the letters, shuffling the envelopes together. She studied her own handwriting across each yellowed envelope, carefully reading over the names she had addressed them to.
Hitoshi Shinsou
Shoto Todoroki
Katsuki Bakugo
She sighed, feeling as though the entire world was watching her make the best – or worst – decision of her life. Her face was in shadow, but her resolve was clear. As she slipped each envelope into the mailbox, moonlight caught on her teeth when she smiled hesitantly. Her hands shook as she hurried away, glancing around to make sure no one had seen her. All there was to do now was wait for a response.
The sun was high in the sky, heating up the sand below. Eri’s feet burned as she sprinted across the beach toward the dock, but she barely noticed over the excitement bubbling in her chest. She squealed, and two familiar shrieks answered her from the dock.
“Satsuki!! Mahoro!!” she shouted, her cheeks already hurting from how wide her smile was.
Satsuki Asui and Mahoro Shimano scrambled toward her.
“Eri!!” Satsuki, the tallest of them all, wrapped her arms around Eri and spun her around in a circle. She only set Eri down when Mahoro nudged her impatiently with her usual pout.
The three clung to each other while nearby guests openly stared. Mahoro grabbed onto her hand, examining the ring settled there, “Oh my god, Eri. It’s gorgeous, he did so well!”
Eri turned away, blushing as she tried to hide her grin.
“I want one!” Satsuki whined, turning Eri’s hand to watch how the diamond glittered in the sunlight.
Eri looked back, her heart pounding as she screamed, “I’m getting married tomorrow!!!”
A nearby guest coughed pointedly and shot the trio a glare, immediately shutting the three up.
Eri smiled sheepishly at them as she wrenched the other two off the dock and led them towards the rocks surrounding the beach. “You have no idea how happy I am now that you two are here! I have a secret. And I need to tell someone about it or else I’m going to burst from holding it in!”
Mahoro smirked, stepping in front and walking backwards, “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant already?”
Eri choked while Satsuki gasped and pressed a hand against her stomach. “What?! I thought you two were waiting until after the wedding!”
Mahoro cackled, holding out her hand to Satsuki. “I told you they wouldn’t be able to wait! You owe me ten bucks!
“No!” Eri shoved them both away and climbed onto one of the rocks, “I’ve invited my dad to the wedding!”
Satsuki and Mahoro stared for a second before Mahoro groaned and handed back the 10 dollars Satsuki had slipped into her palm seconds earlier. “Dang it! Now I can’t buy any souvenirs!”
Satsuki laughed and pushed the other girl aside, reaching for Eri’s hands, “You’re joking! You finally found him?!”
The white haired girl sat down on the rocks, swiping at a crab that was soaking in the heat. “Not exactly,” she sighed, pulling out a journal with the number 13 scrawled messily across the cover.
“You know the story my papa always told me about my dad? How it was a summer romance, and that he was long gone before papa even realized that he was expecting me?”
The other two nodded along, having heard this story a million times growing up. Eri continued, a little more somber than before “I’d always accepted that as the truth, that it would be all I’d ever know about him. Not his name. Not what he looked like. Not even the story of how they fell in love.”
Mahoro glanced hesitantly at Satsuki, who furrowed her eyebrows and grabbed Eri’s hand. Eri smiled reassuringly at her best friends, grateful for their support. “Well, I was going through some old boxes that my nana Inko was holding onto, and I found this.”
Eri looked down at the notebook, brushing her finger over the slightly smudged ink.
She turned to her friends, huffing in amusement at their confused expressions.
“It’s the journal my papa kept while he was pregnant with me.”
Satsuki gasped, covering her mouth while Mahoro immediately lunged for the book. The white haired girl quickly stood up and jumped up onto a taller rock, holding it above her head with a laugh.
“Give me that! I want to know all the details from Izu’s past!” Mahoro pouted, crossing her arms before bursting into laughter as well when she caught the way Satsuki had reacted.
“Okay, okay! Calm down!” Eri grimaced for a second, “And don’t call him Izu, that’s weird!”
She brought the book back down and turned to one of the pages she had dog-eared, slowly stepping back down so her friends could shuffle behind her to read over her shoulder. She took a deep breath before reading,
July 17th
What a night! Kacchan rowed me over to the island.
“That’s here, that’s Nabu Island.” Eri clarified,
We danced on the beach, we kissed on the beach, and …
“What does dot dot dot mean?” Satsuki stared blankly. Mahoro smirked at Eri before turning to the green haired girl, she wrapped one of the green pigtails around her finger before shimmying her shoulders suggestively, “It means they fu-”
“That’s just how he wrote it!” Eri interrupted, “He’s talking about how they, um, did things.”
Mahoro slumped when the lightbulb flickered on for Satsuki, “Oh.”
Mahoro adjusted her woven hat with a sigh. “So innocent.” Satsuki glared playfully before leaning back over the book for more. Eri cleared her throat and kept reading,
I still can’t believe he feels the same way.
We’ve been best friends since we were kids. I knew there was something different about him from the moment I met him.
I used to think loving him was something I would just have to survive. Quietly.
When he moved away for college, I finally realized how much he meant to me.
Every phone call felt too short. Every visit home hurt when he left again.
Little did I know that he was realizing the same thing.
Kacchan has never looked at anyone gently before. I didn’t even know he could.
But tonight, every time his eyes found mine, there was something soft in them -- like I might actually be worth protecting.
He even brought blankets and candles to make everything feel special. He acted annoyed the entire time he was setting it up, but I know he did it for me.
I never wanted to leave.
And god, when he touched me, I thought I might fall apart. I didn’t know a kiss could leave me that breathless. Thinking felt impossible afterward.
By the time he finally let me breathe again, I could barely remember where my own hands were supposed to go. The candles had almost burned out by the time we finally pulled apart. I don’t think either of us looked entirely put together when he walked me home.
I never want anyone else to touch me the way he did.
I want him to be my first and my last.
And I will never forget the way he kissed me goodnight. It felt magical.
He held me like I was something precious. His hands were warm even after being in the ocean all night.
My heart was beating so hard I thought he might hear it. I almost asked him if this was really real, but I was too afraid to ruin the moment.
The way he moves. The way he smiles. The way he talks.
Oh god, let it never end.
Katsuki Bakugo is the one.
I don’t care how stupid that sounds. I know he is.
Mahoro stood and started walking towards the stairs up to the Taverna, Eri followed along with Satsuki and began the trek up, “So this guy, Kacchan, is your father?”
Eri moved on to another page, running up to the next landing before another set of stairs. She looked down at Mahoro and leaned against the railing, “Kacchan was the nickname my papa gave him. But wait. It gets worse.”
July 28th
All this time, Kacchan has been telling me he loves me.
But now he’s telling me he’s engaged to a girl he met at school.
Her name is Camie. His mother adores her because she comes from a good family.
Unlike me, who comes from nothing worth bragging about.
He leaves tomorrow morning, and in two weeks he’ll be her husband.
He even asked me to stand beside him at the wedding. To be his best man.
I just stared at him while my whole world collapsed quietly around me.
He hugged me so tightly I couldn’t breathe.
Or maybe it was the despair crushing my chest.
He kept whispering in my ear that he loved me.
That nothing between us would change.
But how can he say that when he’s marrying someone else in two weeks? After spending the entire summer treating me like I was the only person he’d ever want.
Part of me had been waiting for reality to catch up with us. I should have trusted my instincts before I let him have every part of me.
I refused the invitation.
I can never see him again. I know it would destroy me.
I love him too much to watch him choose someone else.
Both her friends glared down at the book, Mahoro brought her hand up to flip off the doodle that Izuku had drawn on the opposite page. Eri rolled her eyes and pushed her hand back down. Satsuki sighed sadly, “Poor Izuku…”
Eri bounded toward the next staircase, jumping up every other step until they finally made it up to the first level of the hotel. Mahoro and Satsuki huffed and puffed as they struggled up the final set, sitting down dramatically once they made it to the top. Eri giggled as she turned to the next marked page, handing them both paper fans from her bag that she had prepared for this exact reason. She read,
August 4th
What a night! Hitoshi rented a motorboat, and I took him over to Nabu.
“Hitoshi?!” Satsuki gasped, still trying to catch her breath. “There’s another guy?” Eri bit her lip and kept reading,
Even though part of me still belongs to Kacchan, there’s something calm about Hitoshi that keeps pulling me closer. Hitoshi is so stoic until suddenly he isn’t.
He’s funny in this dry, deadpan sort of way that catches me off guard every time.
Hitoshi barely talks unless he has something worth saying, but every time he looked at me today, I felt seen.
We spent the day exploring the caves around the island. He knew the names of all the random creatures and plants we found. I’m pretty sure he kept pointing things out just to hear me laugh at how serious he sounded.
Afterwards, we kept knocking each other into the water until neither of us could breathe from laughing. He smiled more today than I think I’ve ever seen him smile before.
He looked so good soaking wet, his clothes clinging to him like a second skin. He pretended not to notice me staring, but his ears turned pink every time I got caught.
Being around him feels easy.
Like I don’t have to work so hard to be understood.
Suddenly, he was kissing me like he’d been wanting to for a long time.
One thing led to another, and …
The girls all giggled and continued on through one of the hallways until they landed in the outdoor center of the Taverna. Eri stepped around the beautiful fountain in the center, sitting down on the ledge and turning to another page.
August 11th
Shoto showed up out of nowhere while I was working at the bar last night.
He was wearing this perfectly tailored suit, looking ridiculously handsome and completely out of place. Quiet, too. Though somehow still strangely charming.
He looked like a movie star.
He asked if I’d spend the day with him, so I offered to take him out to the island today.
He offered to pay for the trip using his father’s credit card.
Apparently he stole it, which feels wildly out of character for someone so painfully polite.
But I told him I’d row us over instead. Somebody has to introduce that boy to manual labor.
We spent the day relaxing and just talking about our lives.
(By the way, his father might actually be the worst person alive.)
My life is nowhere near as depressing as his, but he listened so diligently.
Most people tune me out when I start rambling, but he listened to every word like it actually mattered.
Sometimes we sat in silence for several minutes, and somehow it never felt awkward. I kept waiting for him to get bored of me, but he never did.
When he looked at me, I didn’t feel difficult to love.
He’s so sweet and understanding that eventually I stopped trying to resist him, and …
The girls all threw their arms in the air, yelling out the final “Dot dot dot” together. They dissolved into giggles, flipping through pages to find more details about Izuku’s love affairs.
Footsteps and a familiar wedding tune cut through their shenanigans as Izuku Midoriya, the infamous man himself, noticed the girls in the courtyard,
“Here comes the bridesmaids,” He sang, not noticing the way Eri swiftly shoved the notebook back into her bag.
“Izuku!!”
The bridesmaids in question ran into Izuku’s arms, smiling as he looked them over, “Stop growing!! God, it feels like yesterday that the two of you and your families came to the hotel and we had three little toddlers waddling around causing mischief!”
He observed their slightly flushed faces from laughing so much, smiling fondly, “You three sound like you’re having fun already.”
“Oh, we are!” Eri chimed in, Izuku sighed and turned to get back to work, “I used to have fun…”
Mahoro smirked, “Oh, we know- hey!”
Satsuki kicked at her shoe and sent her a not so subtle glare. Izuku turned to look at them confused but slowly walked away when Eri gave him a sheepish grin and a shrug.
Eri followed him around the corner to make sure he had gone before turning back to the others, all three slumping with a sigh of relief. Eri motioned for the two to follow her up to her bedroom, and it wasn’t until the door was closed that she pulled the notebook back out from her bag. She sat on her bed, flipping to the pages that contained sketches of all three men. Her friends sat down next to her to observe them as well.
“So, who is your dad? Katsuki, Hitoshi, or Shoto?” Satsuki questioned, “My bet is on Todoroki! You both have white hair, so it’s obviously him!”
Mahoro pointed to the drawings of him sitting on the beach looking out at the ocean, it was the only one of his that was colored in. Satsuki hummed, “Yeah, but when she looks sad, her face resembles Shinsou’s a lot! And Bakugo has super light hair too, and their face shapes are both kind of sharp!”
“That’s the problem,” Eri groaned. “I don’t know.”
The amber headed girl raised her eyebrow, confused “So which one did you invite?”
Eri bit her lip and avoided their eyes, drumming her thumbs against the front cover of notebook 13.
She grimaced as she watched the other girl’s jaws drop, the two of them fell back onto the bed and said in unison, “Oh… My… God.”
Eri squealed and stood up, her body shaking uncontrollably from the sudden surge of nerves.
Satsuki sat up, “Do they know?”
“What do you write to a total stranger? Please come to my wedding, you might be my father? No!” Eri scoffed, throwing the journal onto the bed, “They think papa sent the invitations, and with everything in there–”
Eri ran over to her desk, digging through one of the drawers and pulling out three letters addressed to the hotel, “It’s no surprise, they said yes!”
All three jumped up with glee, grabbing onto each other and spinning around in a circle.
Eri spun out, grabbing the notebook from her bed and climbing on top of the pillows, “I’ve spent my whole life hearing whispers about my dad. It feels like I’m finally about to learn a part of myself I never knew. I just can’t wait to meet them!”