Chapter 70 - Resilience

Ochaco Uraraka was a young girl who had not had an easy life.

Born in a poor family, things had only gotten worse over time. She found comfort in the fact that her parents had never had any other children besides her.

"We know we're being selfish," her mother had told her, "but we wanted a child of our own so badly, you see ?"

No, Ochaco didn't see.

Her parents were poor, at the height of their misery, and they had foolishly decided to have a child.

"Out of love," her father had told her. But love doesn't feed you when you're starving.

Growing up, Ochaco had began to resent her parents.

While her other friends enjoyed adolescence to the fullest, Ochaco worked odd jobs on weekends. She couldn't be idle : idleness was for rich people, for those who had food in the refrigerator and were light-heartedly wondering what new activity they were going to do this weekend.

As for Ochaco, she knew she'd have to work harder than anyone else on Sundays and holidays. When she wasn't stocking shelves or playing cashier, Ochaco was making sure her house didn't fall into disrepair. Besides her parents and herself, her grandfather, some of her uncles and little cousins lived there.

They all worked in her father's company, and whenever they saw Ochaco, they felt compelled to compliment her on her hard work.

'You're a good girl, Ochaco. You work hard to help your parents. What would we do without you, Cha'

'You found a job besides the grocery store ? Nice... Hey, can you buy me a pack of cigarettes ? I'll pay you back at the beginning of the month.'

At night, in her bed, Ochaco prayed to go to sleep and never wake up again.

Over time, her anger at her parents grew : they had a child they couldn't afford to raise. They had a child knowing he would live in misery - but that didn't stop them.

Out of love.

It was the worst bullshit she'd ever heard.

One day, Ochaco had wanted to run away; to take the little money she'd managed to save and disappear without a trace. Even if she hadn't a fortune, at least it wouldn't be siphoned off into the bottomless pit that was her father's company.

But she had overheard a discussion between her parents that made her realize how pointless it all was.

- What do you mean, another loan ? We had almost paid off the last one !

- There were complications : two of our cars broke down, and there were irregularities in the last building we built. The mayor's office wants us to rebuild it from scratch or they'll take us to court and won't pay us.

(There was a moment of silence, and Ochaco thought she heard her mother crying.)

- I promised Ochaco that this was all temporary. That we'd just have to get through this and then everything would be alright.

(Sniffles; sound of crumpling clothes)

- We have to pay off this loan while we're still alive, do you hear me ? I refuse that the only thing we leave our daughter is a debt.

And then Ochaco understood : even if she ran away, she'd never be able to live a quiet life with bailiffs after her. The money problem caused by her stupid parents was now her problem, because of their shared blood. She had to find a solution, because she never wanted to end up like her parents : miserable and poor.

She ventured deeper into her neighborhood, into the places her parents had expressly forbidden her to go. She hoped to find someone, anyone, who could give her an opportunity to make some easy money. She wasn't very particular about the kind of job; maybe she'd deal drugs, or from the leering looks the drunks gave her, she'd find herself stripping.

Dignity was for people who could afford it.

She'd realized early on, when the other kids made fun of her socks with holes in them and asked why she always smelled so bad, that apart from hurting, dignity wasn't much use. You could ask her to lick the sole of a shoe and she'd do it without hesitation if it meant getting out of the vicious cycle of her life.

That night, Ochaco found what she was looking for.

But she wasn't the only kid who had been offered the chance to revolutionize life in exchange for a few years of her life; there had been competition, and they had all been tested against each other. There had been some interesting Quirks in the mix, and a few teenagers who had worried her at first.

But the months went by at a dizzying pace, and when she finally made it into the top 20 of the small group, they started giving her money. It was more than she was making from her two part-time jobs, so she quit and decided to devote more time to her training.

She had to become number one- she wanted the money that came with it, even though she didn't know exactly what she was signing up for. But it didn't matter, because with money you could do anything.

'Money is the only thing that's real'

'If only we had more money...'

'When I get older, I'll be a doctor and make a lot of money !'

Ochaco was aware of the importance of money even before she realized she was a self-aware being.

Money is money, no matter whose hands it's in. It's the only power you can never argue with.

She had never discussed it, would never discuss it.

This was her golden rule, the one on which she had based her entire existence on.

- One million dollars…

Ochaco grabbed her head with both hands, pulling violently at her hair, her nails digging into the tender skin of her skull.

She exhaled heavily, her nostrils contracting and then dilating. Her legs shook - she wanted to run, to leave the locker room, to claim what was rightfully hers.

Inadvertently, Ochaco saw her reflection in the mirror; red-faced, drenched in sweat, her entire body quivering. She looked like her Uncle Jaimie when he was on a coke binge.

Ochaco forced herself to relax and put her hands flat on either side of her body, her fingers gripping the wooden bench she was sitting on. She straightened up and rolled her neck to crack her back.

One.million.dollars.

She'd almost blown the whole thing when that son of a bitch Todoroki had opened his briefcase this morning.

She had taken a step forward, her eyes glued to the wads of cash. Her mind had been blank for a handful of seconds, all her attention focused on the sweet, sweet money. Everything she'd do with that money. Everything she'd do...

The voices of the other students pulled her out of her daze.

Momo had been outraged. She had called Todoroki vulgar and his methods tasteless.

Ochaco had given her a sideways glance.

After Todoroki, it was Yaoyorozu who Ochaco hated the most : she was just a slut with an attitude, dropped off at school every morning by her butler in a Mercedes.

She told everyone that she wanted to become a hero to protect civilians, but Ochaco could see right through her : her family was rich, and they just wanted to extend their power into the heroic realm.

It might not have been so obvious if their bitch of a daughter hadn't been stupid enough to use such a versatile Quirk so badly. In the next few years, Ochaco predicted Momo would be nothing but a poor excuse of a hero, heard from all the time because of the interviews and press conferences she would buy for herself.

Her attention soon returned to the briefcase.

She had hesitated to take it and disappear with it. Sure, hundreds of Heroes would be after her, but she knew Yuei's layout by heart and would have no trouble losing them.

Especially since she would have the advantage of surprise; no one would have expected it and no one knew the extent of her abilities...

Once out of the school, she would have to find her own transportation.

If she could reach the sea, Ochaco was sure she could get out of the country with her Quirk alone.

But that was just an "if"; they would never let her reach the ocean.

Ochaco had eaten her heart out, telling herself she would have to earn the money fairly - even though she was sure Todoroki's father had acquired it in a way that was anything but legal.

But that's the way it was : the rich were allowed to cheat, and the poor were forced to play by the rules.

- I'm going to ask everyone to return to their seats, said Present Mic. The next fight is about to begin.

Ochaco stood up, dusting off her pants, which it didn't need. She ran a hand through her hair, combing it back briefly.

It used to be long and silky. Then Ochaco realized it was too easy to grab and cut it all off with a knife. She would have preferred to shave it all off, but that would have made her too conspicuous.

Besides, her mother would have had a heart attack.

She crossed the corridor and stopped at the entrance to the tunnel, in the last patch of shade before the light. From here, she could feel the heat of the ground : was it because of what Todoroki had done or the natural heat of the afternoon ?

Certainly a little of both, but mostly the former.

She blinked, her gaze sweeping across the stands.

Part of the stadium had to be evacuated so that Cementos could rebuild it : the crowd had continued to cheer even as they were evacuated. Ochaco wondered if they all realized that without Cementos, there wouldn't even be their melted bones left amidst the ruins.

The principal had downplayed the facts, exaggerating his cute-mouse act to make the recent events seem like the actions of a teenager caught up in adrenaline.

Ochaco might have given him the benefit of the doubt, except that this wasn't the first time Todoroki had done something like this.

Exactly the same thing had happened at the USJ. He had used some kind of special technique with his ice, freezing not only the Nomu he was fighting, but also absolutely every other student present. Had it lasted any longer, it's certain that other students would have died. Frozen, for their part.

And if she could notice it, there was no reason why the actual creator of the technique couldn't.

From this, Ochaco could make two assumptions:

1 - Todoroki is unconscious.

2 - Todoroki couldn't care less about other people's lives.

In both cases, she concluded that he wasn't cut out to be a Hero.

Too unpredictable, too dangerous - the perfect kind of villain.

- ... 1-A, Ochaco Uraraka !

She pinched her cheeks to make them pinker, lifted the corners of her mouth with her fingers - her smile had to be that of a happy teenager, but not at the height of joy. She hunched up slightly, tucking her head into her shoulders. She fidgeted with her fingers to give the impression of being nervous.

Quick little steps to appear stressed. Looking at the floor, then the bleachers, waving hesitantly, then back to the floor.

Everything glistened in the golden sunlight.

Her steps were brisk, her shoes kicking up a cloud of yellow dust behind her. Her eyes were glued to the ground at first, then she glanced timidly up at the bleachers from under her lashes.

She raised her hand in an uncertain salute.

The crowd roared. Ochaco visibly relaxed, a sigh escaping her lips and her shoulders dropped.

From now on, she looked around more confidently, the applause energizing her. Midnight gave her a friendly smile as she reached her destination.

- Also from 1-A, please welcome our tournament's solo ringer, Shoto Todorokiiiiii !

The shouts of the crowd turned to near hysteria as the boy entered the arena.

*

Author's note :

No point at writing carbon copy characters of the OG story.

Tell me what you think about this nice backstory.

Power stones goal for the sunday bonus chapter : 250.

P@treon : Nar_cisseENG where you can read up to 50 chapters ahead.

See you in the next update everyone !