Deku the heart catcher

Chapter 2: Hagakure

Attending Yuuei was very much a privilege that Midoriya was immensely proud to have earned. He was still intimidated somewhat by the imposing exterior of the school, even though walking through the school gates in the morning made him so excited. The walk to class filled him with energy and anticipation, all the way up to sitting down.

Once he sat down, though, the class started, and things changed somewhat. Aizawa-sensei would walk in, greet the class, and introduce them to the day's assignments. He'd eventually trade off with another teacher, and then another, and another. The class would diligently or less-than-diligently do their assignments, until the time came to head home at the end of the day.

Barring some kind of massive interference from external forces, or some kind of tumultuous examination of the class's abilities, it was usually kind of monotonous. Midoriya felt guilty that he felt that way at all, even if he was fairly sure students like Bakugou were far more unsatisfied with the lack of action. This, too, was a leg of the journey to becoming pro heroes, and it was all a part of what they all signed up for.

Even then, Midoriya could not escape his wanting some kind of excitement. It was a very high school-level sentiment, to react to tranquility and success with the desire for an upset, or for some greater challenge that made them fear failure desperately. Midoriya was a little bit scared by this sentiment taking hold of him, but he really could not ignore it. What on Earth could he do about it, though? Where could he find some kind of break from the daily doldrums without endangering himself or his performance?

This inner conflict had been brewing in Midoriya's gut for about a week when, at the end of the school day on Friday, he was surprised by a hand on his shoulder. He looked over, and realized that an invisible touch had gripped ahold of him. A giggling voice noticed his brief confusion, coming from somewhere within a floating school girl uniform. "Hey there, Deku," Hagakure greeted Midoriya with his chosen hero name. "I can call you Deku, right? That's how heroes address each other, right? Or is it okay to call you Midoriya?" This was a new and surprising kind of situation, to be sure.

"N-no," Midoriya stammered, breaking out of his shock. "Midoriya is fine, Hagakure." The girlish kind of giggle she responded with was a bit peculiar, when the girl's face could not be seen. Her skirt swished side-to-side around her invisible thighs, as if she were swinging her hips side to side. It was always kind of hard to read her, when her body language was only implied by the clothes she was wearing. If she was wearing them at a given time, that is...

Hagakure got a little bit impatient with how the conversation was stalling out. "Sooo," she cut through the silence, "what's your homework situation looking like?" Midoriya shrugged as he pulled on his book bag, mumbling that it was no more than usual. "That's good," the invisible schoolgirl replied, one sleeve raised as if pumping her fist in the air! "I've got a little bit less than usual, since I've been trying to get on top of all my subjects like never before." Just as he began to wonder what Hagakure was getting at, Midoriya got an answer of sorts that made him blush.

"So," Hagakure leaned her invisible body in a little bit, "you wanna hang out this weekend?" Wait, what? "I was thinking about tomorrow. I'll meet you right outside of the school at 3 PM. Does that work for you?"

"Uh, um," Midoriya stammered, "s-sure!" Oh God why had he answered without thinking?

"Awesome," Hagakure clapped with unseeable hands! She rounded the front row, picking up her book bag before circling past Midoriya again. "Then it's a date," she giggled, leaving Midoriya to stand rooted in place. His brow was slick with sweat, his eyes bulging, lips pursed a little bit.

"A, a," Midoriya struggled to form the simple syllables. "A...Date?"

— — —

Midoriya was still trying to figure out how he felt as he walked to meet Hagakure. For an invisible girl, she was definitely cute as a button. Always full of energy, boundlessly quirky and with a very good sense of humor, Hagakure was definitely able to stand out in spite of (and to an extent, because of) her innate invisibility. Midoriya was honestly surprised he'd not talked to her more, with how vibrantly her personality shone through!