My Waitress (IzuOcha)

Chapitre 13 - Flashback

Izuku looked at her warily. The neighborhood was so small that it seemed rundown. The brunette approached the house and searched for something in a bush. He examined the house: it was in poor condition, with some walls cracked, making it look uninviting. To him, it seemed like no one lived here. In fact, no one seemed to live on this street, as all the houses in the area were the same. It looked like a ghost town... well, a ghost neighborhood, but apparently, Ochaco wasn't worried as she found what she was looking for—keys.

Ochaco noticed his wary expression regarding the neighborhood.

"Before, everyone who worked for my parents lived in this neighborhood. We all lived in a happy community, but one day, workers started leaving for better-paying jobs, and the neighborhood began to fall apart. My parents died, and my uncle bought everything out. Technically, I shouldn't be here... But he never knew that a spare set of keys was hidden in the bush, so... Come on, let's go in!" the young woman revealed.

Izuku followed her without a word. They entered, and Ochaco turned on the light, which surprised him because, given her story, he had thought all the houses were abandoned. He looked at her questioningly.

"Well, I think my uncle didn't cut the electricity to know when I came to the house because at that time, he wanted to take me in. But now that I'm an adult, I don't care if he shows up to take me back; I still have the right to do what I want. In fact, I think if I had stayed with him, I would have become my cousin's punching bag, especially since I already was... Well, make yourself at home, do whatever you want. You can even watch the super-secret videos my parents made of me" she said, laughing.

Izuku toured the small house: the living room and kitchen were the same room, then there was a bathroom at the end of the hallway, and upstairs were two bedrooms, presumably one for Ochaco and the other for her parents. After completing his tour, Izuku stopped to look at all the photos on the stairs.

"I don't really like how I look in these photos" she said. "The older I got, the less I smiled... Oh, that rhymes."

"Yet, you look quite cute in this one" Izuku pointed out.

"Everyone is cute at that age... Look at Eri! I bet you were cute too!" the woman exclaimed.

Izuku ignored her comment and continued to look at the photos.

"You really look a lot like your mother" he said.

"I've always been told that..." Ochaco agreed, coming back down to the living room.

"I find you really beautiful, but apparently, you don't believe in yourself..." he mumbled as he also descended.

They sat down on the couch.

They sat there in silence until Izuku decided to break it.

"I'd like to know your whole story because I only know bits and pieces, and I don't quite understand. And I'd like to know how you managed to get into U.A. already."

"I'll tell you my whole story if you promise to take it all in and then tell me yours" she insisted.

He nodded.

"Okay... Um... I was born on December 27. According to my mother, that year was one of the coldest, but let's skip that. I grew up here with my parents; when I was younger, all I wanted was to help them because we were never really wealthy. Then I turned three and had to go to school. At first, everything was fine; I had friends and was happy. Then I started elementary school, where I was judged for being poor. Every time I made friends, they used me. So I began to stop talking to anyone. Looking back, I think it was my cousin's fault. Since we were poor, we relied a lot on my uncle's money, and I spent a lot of time with my cousin. We used to write songs together, but as soon as I started being bullied, she took everything I had created and claimed that I had stolen it. Which others took as: 'Watch out for her; besides being poor, she's a thief.' But... I remember very well that at that time, I was afraid of making new friends, so I stayed in the most remote corner of the playground and read. I constantly asked my teachers to place me at the back of the class, and I no longer participated in class. I was afraid of being judged for a poor answer. It really bothered the teachers to see me fall so low, but despite all the parent-teacher meetings, nothing changed. Until the day I applied to get into the high school you know well. My story becomes even sadder at that point... I went to their entrance exam, and I was really happy. When I got there, I saw a green-haired boy looking quite thoughtful, and he was about to fall, so I caught him. I think I'll always remember it; I talked to him, and all he did was stammer, which made me laugh. Then during that exam, he saved my life, and I'm very grateful to him. I went home extremely happy, but when I got there, no one was there. Later that evening, I received a call from one of my parents' workers telling me that Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka had just died. I didn't know what to say, but hearing that made me realize my dream would never come true. The next day, I went to U.A. and saw Present Mic. I told him my story and said I was withdrawing my application. He tried to stop me, but my decision was made. I also asked him to give my points to the green-haired boy who had saved me. Then I went back home, alone...

One day, an orphanage lady came to see me and took me there. I lived there for two days, then I ran away. I didn't feel like I belonged there. And I wandered, trying to avoid being found by my uncle because I knew he was looking for me. Then I came across the restaurant owner who took me in as an employee, and after that, you know what happened," she concluded her story.

Izuku looked at her sadly.

"Your turn" she said gently, showing no emotion in her voice.

★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

𝓗𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔬 / 𝔊𝔬𝔬𝔡 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 / 𝔊𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰!

𝓘 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔢 𝑦𝔬𝔲 𝔢𝔫𝔧𝔬𝑦𝔢𝔡 𝔦𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔢 𝑦𝔬𝔲 𝔰𝔬𝔬𝔫 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔱!

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