Paging Dr. Deku

83: Confession

'That's it! This... This is the only option I have!'

Izuku took a deep breath and reached her hands out to the blond and rested her hands on both of his cheeks and smiled at him. 

"Kei-kun... it's me, Izuku. You remember, don't you?" she asked him. His eyes didn't seem fazed and his expression remained fearless of what she was saying. 

"You told me that even though this isn't always going to be your body, you will always be happy just seeing me. You said you would treasure every moment... every memory you have with me as if it's your last. And that means I don't want to lose you either." she said. 

What she said might've worked, but that's when she realized there was another problem, the sound of the ticking of a metronome.

She watched as he started to move his hands again and felt his hands wrap around her throat and she could feel a slow but tight grip. 

'No, I can't... let him choke me!' 

She tried to think of where the metronome could really be, but after she started seeing stars in her vision, she had no choice but to rest her hands over the blond's ears and cover them. 

"D-Don't... Don't listen... to the... ticking... Kei... Kei-kun!" she breathed. 

Though she could tell the ticking might've faded for the blond's hearing, it didn't completely disappear, and Izuku had no choice but to try and convince him to stop. 

"I thought... I thought you said... you didn't... wanna lose me!" she screamed.

Just from her voice echoing through the auditorium, she noticed right away that the blond's grip on her neck had loosened and soon she felt his hands releasing her. She looked up at him and could tell his expression had softened and the color of his eyes slowly faded from Black to Red again. 

"K-Ke- Kei-kun...?" 

"I... I don't..." he mumbled as he closed his eyes. 

"W-What? What is it, Kei-kun?" 

"Izuku..." 

She watched as the blond slowly dropped to the floor and she panicked and knelt down in front of him. 

"Kei-kun! K-Kei-kun, are you okay?" she asked as she rested her hand on his cheek.

She watched as he grabbed her hand that was resting on his cheek and felt her body go numb when she saw tears rolling down his face. 

"I hurt... you, Izuku..." he sniffled. 

"Kei-kun-" 

"I want to live... I want to be free and... I want to be with you forever, Izuku." he said as he opened his eyes and looked at the greenette. 

"Kei-kun, I-" 

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Izuku. But I don't want to lose you because... because I love you too much to lose you." he cried and his tears wouldn't stop falling. It felt like she just got shot in the chest by that kind of confession, and Izuku couldn't help but start forming tears in her eyes from how honest the blond was at this very moment. 

"Kei-kun... I don't want to lose you either!" she cried as she immediately wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. 

"I promise, no matter what, you and Kacchan will be just fine and I will make sure no one hurts you or Kacchan!" 

"You're so warm... Izuku."

Just as the two of them had cleaned up their tears, Izuku noticed right away that the sound of a ticking metronome had eventually vanished and even the spotlight that was on the stage disappeared.