wait what?!?

pt. 6

(Izuku's POV)

I look ahead of me as I push my hurting legs at full speed, searching for the best spot to fall to my knees in exhaustion. I found this forest around a month ago and I've been coming here to jog every Monday ever since. No one else knows about this spot, since I always say I went around the park instead. And that makes this spot all mine.

Unlike somebody is.

I crash into the ground, the dirt rubbing onto my knees and hands. I sit up, and look at my knees to find them bruised and with a cut or two on each one. I look up at the slivers of sky in between the trees, the leaves falling down from their branches which are so long they block almost all the sunlight, which makes it so dark you can barely tell it's daytime.

I make sure my bag is still clean, and thankfully since I didn't fall on my back, there's no sign of any damage or dirt. I pull out my phone, and tap on my lock screen a few times, the pictures of Kacchan changing from pictures of when we were kids, to pictures from the sports festival, to pictures of him I found on his social media, to the picture of him with his new backpack from this morning. I stop tapping, and stare at the amazing boy on my wallpaper.

His hair may look spiky, but you'd be surprised how soft and fluffy it can be when it's humid outside. He's never told anyone that. There are lots of things Kacchan has only told me.

So why does he still not even want to talk to me?

I look through my notifications, ignoring the gibberish ones from Eri, who's still learning how to use the new tablet she was given for her birthday. I scroll farther until i find a message from Kirishima, sent around 10 minutes ago.

"Dude, look at this."

I tap on it, and it takes me to messages, and I look at the only thing Kirishima has texted me.

It's a picture of Kacchan.

On the floor.

Eating soba that he probably made.

Yelling at ants???

"what happened??", I text him. I wait a minute or two, but when there's no reply, I turn off my phone and put it back in my bag.

I start to get up slowly, ignoring the slight sting coming from my knees, as well as the bigger pain coming from the rest of my legs, and start to walk to a better spot here. This forest has a long path that circles back to itself, but it also has a side route that leads to my favorite place in Japan.

You would think it was UA, since it was my dream, but I had another dream, one that I didn't work towards, but never let go. I took the last turn and found the place I was looking for.

The river. But not just any river. The River. The one where all my good memories of Kacchan were. I smile, replaying all the fun times we spent here as little kids.

My heart was still racing,

But it wasn't from the run anymore.