——~(16)~——

"an angel of the sun arrives,

to keep the darkness away from people's lives

she lit up hearts with a simple touch

but there was a man who was hurt too much

she tried and tried, but no matter what

the darkness that had infested his soul,

did not budge"

-Your Amazing Author

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the big incident that you were talking about?"

Uraraka paused midstep, as she awkwardly laughed.

"Well, we kinda got attacked by villains... But, don't worry! Everyone's okay! All Might beat all of them up!"

The faintest tremble in her hand, however, indicated how she truly felt on the matter.

'It seems that she's pretty faint of heart. Or maybe the reality just sunk in. Not all of the students can fight with reckless abandon, I suppose. It's a pretty mild reaction to the first time you're in a life or death scenario though. The mental strength of the students might be stronger than I believed at first. Most people would have broken down crying or some other variant to release stress.'

"...I'll make sure to protect you, so... Don't worry about those guys!"

His lips drew up into a gentle smile, and his eyes curved with compassion flooding out through them. It was amazing what the human mind could remember, and the sheer genuineness such actions could seem to have. His mind seemed to move at faster and faster speeds recently. And with that, he could unearth memories that were supposed to be long forgotten.

He pushed aside the tender ache (he had always hated long, drawn-out episodes of pain. He'd rather it just ended in one little burst) encompassing his head with the ease of practice and refocused on Urakaka. She was slightly panicking and embarrassed about her previous statement. In other words, if he added some reassurance while she was in a mentally unstable place... His time here would be much easier.

"...I think you'll be a good hero. You're clearly worried about me when you're the one who went through that. Are you okay, Miss..?"

'I don't technically know her name yet, so I have to keep that in mind.'

"Ah, sorry I never gave you my name, did I? I'm Uraraka Ochaco, but you can call me Ochaco if you want. Foreigners call each other with their first names, right? And, umm, thank you. Saying I'd be a good hero and all that... How did you know I was part of the hero course?"

'...Well, there's my first mistake. But it's not that it's impossible to fix.'

"Hahaha, it was a gut feeling~! Well, even if you weren't a hero, I think that you have the talent for it. As for the names, you are right about how we call each other with our first names in America. You really don't mind if I call you Ochaco? It won't make you uncomfortable?"

Her cheeks lit up with a lightly dusted blush.

"I-It's completely fine! So, uh, you don't mind if I call you Alleannn, either right?"

He rose his lips up just a tad.

"That's not quite how you pronounce it, A-lle-n, Allen. It's kinda hard to pronounce English when you've just been speaking Japanese, huh?"

Her head bobbed in agreement.

"How did you learn the Japanese language, A-Allean?... Allien?... Allen?"

"You got it! Uhh, well, as for your other question, my father was Japanese. He moved over to America with my mother. When mom divorced my dad, he got custody over me. Then he taught me the Japanese language extensively-"

He turned toward her, only to see her face overflowing with tears. A small portion of his chest pricked(?) at the sight of it. Something... was making him feel uncomfortable. He didn't care for this girl, he knew that much. But something about crying set him off. Maybe because it was just like him in the past. Maybe it just threw him off. But the fact was, that for the first time in a long time, the words he always threw so carelessly out of his mouth, were true. They were filled with something genuine. He didn't know how much he needed that until he got it.

(What was happening to him? It's not like it was his past. It was just a make-believe fantasy. This little girl is worth nothing-)

"だじょぼ ですか?うららか-さん! しかりして!" (Are you okay? Uraraka-san! Get a hold of yourself!)

"ごめんね," (Sorry,)

She lightly paused in her crying, and her eyes were slightly droopy.

"I didn't want to pry, or make you sad!"

He couldn't stop himself from letting out a light chuckle. She let out an offended squawk at the laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just that you really care... You don't have to worry about me, it happened a long time ago. I haven't seen my mom since then, but we're happy. My dad is fairly well off, so we don't really have to worry about financial things either. I appreciate your concern."

The pit in his stomach appeared once more. Why did lying make him nauseous? It had never felt like anything before... Well, it didn't matter if he didn't feel like doing it in the end. The mission didn't care what he felt like. So he would continue to lie, and lie, and lie some more.

(But what's left of a liar?

A cursed, haunted shell?

Do they fall into hell?

Or, is it more simple than that?

Perhaps, it's just a simple farewell.

He... was just tired.

He wanted to take a nap.

He wanted to forget, to mend,

And maybe start all over again.

...

Was that really so much to ask?

He wasn't worth the task)

~~~

"Uraraka, would you mind bringing me to the faculty room? I was supposed to check in with them as soon as I got here."

The girl let out a brief guilty chuckle before explaining that he had to have a Student ID to get into the school. He quickly surveyed his pockets in a quick manner. He had vaguely remembered Kurogiri stuffing a card in the uniform while he was going full-on butler mode. He discovered it in the inside pocket of his blazer just in time.

"Ah, I found it. They sent it to me beforehand so I can get in, it seems. Would you mind leading me there then?"

"Of course!"

He couldn't see it before, but it seemed that seeing his Student I.D. caused her to lose some of the tension in her frame. It could have been a hidden facet of her personality, or maybe she was just paranoid from the villain attack this morning. Either way, she had just become more interesting. She was smarter than he thought her to be. He'd have to be more careful around her from now on. As he resurfaced from his thoughts, he was already in front of the faculty's door.

"...Uraraka, you mentioned that you guys experienced a villain attack, right? All of the teachers are probably not here right now then..."

Then an animal that was not quite a mouse, nor a dog - there was a little bit of bear in there too - appeared.

"That's right. It's me, Nezu, the one who could be a dog or a mouse or a bear, but more importantly... I'm the principal!"