Chapter Text
Nobody knew who she was.
Nobody had ever seen her before.
After all, she was Quirkless.
Why would anyone care?
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“I mean, what was even the point except to humiliate her? He could’ve won at any point during that match, yet he let her whale on him for a full two minutes before blowing her out of the ring with one strike! Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t kill her!”
Ochako Uraraka nodded as her friend, Mina Ashido, ranted about their volatile classmate, Katsuki Bakugou. She was walking out of UA High School with the members of 1-A who called themselves the “Girl Squad”.This group consisted of herself, Mina, Momo Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu Asui, Kyouka Jirou, and Tooru Hagakure. They were also accompanied by a couple members of their sister class, 1-B, Itsuka Kendou and Setsuna Tokage.
The reason for Mina’s complaints were because of an incident that had happened earlier that day. Despite the USJ Incident (which ended with two teachers and a student heavily injured, though the last one had been his own fault and put the class in jeopardy; he had been expelled for that), the HPSC had forced UA to go through with their annual Sports Festival. Not only was it an entertaining event and quirk showcase, it allowed the heroes to scout out potential interns, giving the students chances to further their careers and make connections.
However, there had been an upset that year. The final round participants consisted of 13 Hero students, a Support student, and two General Studies students, one of them was quirkless.
Not only that, but she had won the first event all on her own, and had managed to get her team to scrape by with an upset advance in the second event. That had consisted of the other General Studies student and the Support student, as well as one of Ochako’s classmates, Fumikage Tokoyami, who had nothing but praises to give the girl when asked about her.
Unfortunately, during the first round of the third event, a tournament, she was partnered up against Bakugou, who Ochako was quickly starting to despise. The girl had valiantly fought for two minutes, but had been brushed aside every time she charged and then insulted. Finally, he had delivered an insult that had made Ochako’s blood scream with vindictive rage, causing his opponent to sloppily attack him. He had then unleashed a huge blast with his quirk, Explosion, that catapulted her out of the ring and slammed into a wall so hard, it cracked. She still hadn’t woken up even after the Festival had ended. Ochako was worried for her, but realized she was in capable hands with the Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl.
“Well, on the bright side, Bakugou didn’t last much longer after that either,” Kendou mentioned. “That other General Studies kid, Shinso, made sure of that.”
The girls all chuckled. Hitoshi Shinso had won that match by brainwashing Bakugou, forcing him to not just walk out of the ring, but cluck and act like a chicken the whole way. It was immensely satisfying to watch, especially when Bakugou snapped out of it and tried to attack Shinso, only to get blocked by Cementoss and gassed by Midnight.
“Still, I hope that jerk gets expelled,” Kyouka grumbled. “He’s pulled some crap before, but this? This is crossing a line.”
“I’m more worried about the girl, ribbit,” Tsuyu croaked. “She still hadn’t woken up, even after the award ceremony. Bakugou might have damaged something crucial.”
“I’m sure Recovery Girl has everything well in hand,” Kendou assured them. “In any case, I wonder what internship offers we’ll get?”
The conversation then moved to possible mentors for each of the girls, and how many offers each would get for their performance. Ochako was just telling the others about her desire to intern with a combat-oriented hero to round out her skillset, when a shadow passed over her. Curious, she turned around… and stared.
There, standing on top of the UA building, was a small figure. She couldn’t tell who it was, the sun was shining into her eyes, keeping her from knowing that. Just as she squinted to see if she could get a better look, the unthinkable happened.
The figure fell off the roof.
Ochako didn’t hesitate.
She didn’t even think.
One moment, she realized the figure was falling.
The next, she was running at the spot the figure would impact, bag tossed aside and clothes having their gravity taken away.
She pushed herself, desperately trying to go faster as the figure’s descent sped up. She had to make it, she had to make it, she had to make it!
The figure was close to the ground now. Ochako was still too far away from the building to get to her in time. She was going to hit the ground unless she did something.
In desperation, she took two long strides, then leaped for the figure…
…and slapped them across the face when they were about a foot and a half from the ground.
Ochako tumbled to a stop against the side of the building. She paused there, fighting down the nausea of using her quirk too much and trying to catch her breath. As she heard the other girls run up, she looked up. The falling person was now hovering in the air, a few feet off the ground, rotating gently like a soap bubble. Whoever it was, he or she was a student judging by their UA uniform. Kendou quickly enlarged her fist and pulled the person down so she (it had to be, boys didn’t have hips like that) was closer to the ground.
Ochako released her quirk and stood up, and stared.
It was the girl Bakugou had crushed.
Midoriya Izumi.
“Why?” she asked with tear-filled eyes. “Why did you save me?"