A Second Chance (IzuOcha Future Story)

Long Time, No See

For Izuku, it felt like time had stopped around him as he stared into her eyes. Big, brown eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. How her long bangs blew slightly with the calm wind. How the changing colour from blue to orange sky radiated behind her. It felt mesmerising to him. It made him lost for words, seeing how much she'd grown. Seeing her this close. But, on the other side, he felt like running.

The moment she said his name, she just stood there, with clear disbelief in her face. He didn't say anything back to her. The silence between them drew longer and longer.

"This was a bad idea." The confidence he had built himself to approach her was fading. The memory from two years ago came back in full force, weighing him with such guilt that he began to slowly walk backwards in fear. "What was I thinking? I knew I shouldn't have..."

His thoughts were immediately cut off as someone collided with him, causing him to step back a bit from the shock and become stiff from the impact. Arms were wrapped around his waist and a head was resting on his shoulder. His brain was piecing together what had just happened when he finally realised – Uraraka was hugging him.

His face slowly turned light red at the realisation. He was being hugged by a girl. He was being hugged by Uraraka. Her shoulders began to shake, and a muffled laugh escaped her.

"I can't believe this!" She said, her voice muffled before she let go from her hug, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking at him straight in his eyes.

"It's so good to see you, Deku!" She grinned.

Izuku was dumbfounded at what had just happened. Everything he had feared, how their interactions would be awkward, and how she would push him aside for acceptable reasons, was completely demolished the moment he saw her smile. A big, genuine smile on her face. A smile for him, despite everything before.

"Umm... yeah, it's... good to see you too, Uraraka." He stuttered, taking back by her affectious smile.

Uraraka chuckled before tilting her head to the side a bit, looking curious. "Wow. You've gotten taller."

Light red turned to a deeper one as he rubbed the back of his head. "Umm... yeah... I guess so."

"And your hair looks a bit shorter."

"Well... I thought... it was time... for a haircut."

"Well, I think it looks good on you. And it still has that messy look to you." She smiled. Izuku chuckled nervously, the red still on his checks as she removed her hands from his shoulders and placing them behind her back.

"She's acting like... that night never happened..."

"So, what brings you to Kyoto? I thought your agency was in Minato." She asked curiously.

"Oh, so she didn't see me at the Meet Up. I really need to stop worrying about the worst scenarios."

Izuku rubbed the back of the head from his previous overthinking before answering. "Oh, umm... I was at the Meet Up." It took a while for Uraraka to process the info before a shocked expression appeared on her face, causing her to cover her mouth.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" She exclaimed, but couldn't stop herself from laughing with embarrassment.

"No, no, it's OK." Izuku assured her, waving his hands in front. "I saw you talking to Ashido, so I didn't want to disturb you."

Uraraka was still chuckling, managing to calm down. "I guess. But then again, I should have known Seihashi would have invited you. It would have been crazy if he didn't." She mentioned.