The Couples of Class 1-A

LCO | Ch. 21: Steps Forward

"You are still trying to imitate me."

Already, Midoriya had replayed All Might's words in his mind about thirty times, but to no avail. Eventually, in his frustration, he sat himself down on a bench in the back of the gym to contemplate, but even after situating himself, he felt no better than he did before. His master's words were rather cryptic for once—more semblant to the vague teaching style his instructor Gran Torino had used with him. He thought maybe what All Might meant was for him to find a new mental image other than the egg in the microwave? But for some reason, that didn't feel right either.

Irritated, he ran his hands through his curls a few times and rubbed at his scalp.

"Ugh, I just don't understand... is he referring to my attack names, maybe? Because as much as I'd love to come up with original names for everything, it doesn't feel right since the ability belonged to him in the first place. And should I even be worried about something like that right now? Because the timing—our exams are creeping up fast, and I'd rather spend time coming up with an ultimate move..."

Wrapped up in his conflicted mumblings, Midoriya failed to hear the footsteps of two of his classmates approaching. Off to the side, having just put a hiatus on their training, Uraraka and Iida were casually holding a conversation about their ultimate moves.

"...for that reason, I figured it would be better if I consult with the support department. Hatsume is an expert with support items, so if I figured if I asked her, she might have a solution in mind."

"Aaah, gotcha. You know, maybe I'll try that too. Aizawa-sensei did say that if we come up with an idea here, we could head down there and fill out a request form. Maybe they can find a solution to my nausea?"

They were about to push out of the doors together, when Uraraka's eyes happened to land on Midoriya. In comparison to that morning, he was visually worse for wear—which said a lot, considering the disheveled state he had already been in before. Now, adding to the circles around his eyes, his arms and legs were banged up from practice, and some of his fingernails were uneven as if he'd been chewing on them.

Even if he otherwise didn't appear emotionally down, the sight of him like that broke Uraraka's heart a little bit, and she couldn't help but remember the conversation she'd had with Todoroki earlier that morning.

"...isn't it your responsibility to save your classmates too? To rescue Midoriya?"

Uraraka's hand tensed over the push bar on the door, Maybe I should say something to him.

Iida, noticing she'd stopped walking, bent down slightly to catch her eye before calling out to her, "Uraraka, are you coming along?"

Startled, she jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, glanced at his face, and then looked at Midoriya again.

"Actually... I think I'll wait on that. Why don't you go on ahead, Iida?"

He seemed somewhat perplexed at first, but after following her line of sight, Iida understood.

Midoriya hasn't been in the best of moods, and Uraraka's had some rather unique quarrels with Todoroki, he thought quietly, feeling a frown pull across his face, I wish I could be of some help to them, but I don't have any idea how to counsel them. After all, I've never had a relationship before, so I can't say I'm well enough equipped to give advice.

"All right. In that case, I will see you down there, Uraraka," Iida eventually responded, giving her an understanding nod.

"Thanks," she flashed him a quick smile before turning away to speak with their gloomy-looking friend.