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"I've got you!" All Might said when he caught her.
"Mmm, Toshi..." She mumbled. Safely in his hold, Noriko threw her arms around him, but her loosening grip set off alarms in his head.
"Noriko, stay with me!" He shook her around to keep her from going faint and earned himself a couple of groans from a frazzled Noriko.
"Relax," She grumbled. Noriko smirked and patted the top of his head. "Just let me rest my eyes for a sec. That punch took a lot out of me."
All Might made a noise between a laugh and a sigh. "So maybe she is okay... mostly."
A small group of officers arrived to handle the villains and with the damage having been kept to a minimal, there were no witnesses to deal with. The only casualties were the villains and Noriko.
After getting her to the hospital, All Might (now in his normal body) paced around for what felt like hours in the waiting room. Two hours in and Tsukauchi appeared with coffee cans in hand, passing one to Toshi as he plopped in the seat next to his friend.
"How are you holding up?" It was a simple question with so many viable answers.
"Not too well." That was the plain truth. "The doctor said she would be fine, but she hasn't woken up yet. I know I can't do anything except wait but it makes me feel like I should be helping somehow."
Tsukauchi chuckled. "That's just what makes you a real hero... always feeling like you're not doing enough unless you're helping someone." The black-haired man took a long sip from his coffee before continuing. "I'm sure if your girlfriend were awake, she would tell you to stop worrying so much."
Toshinori didn't register Tsukauchi's words at first, but when he did, his head snapped up and a light blush spread across his cheeks.
"Wait, what? How did you know?"
"Well, for starters you didn't deny it," He laughed, "But it's kind of hard not to notice for anyone that's around you two often." The cop gave his best friend a knowing smile, finding Toshinori's astonishment funny.
A long silence saturated the atmosphere between the two until Toshinori spoke up. "Is it selfish of me to still want to be with her?"
Losing his mentor had been a pain on his heart that never really healed. It was near impossible to imagine losing someone else he loved so dearly. If staying with Noriko would put her life in further jeopardy than he could let her go... but just that thought alone was agony. It could be said that his job was his passion, and serving the public as a hero made him satisfied with the contents of his existence. Yet, there was still a lot to be said about his personal life; he didn't want for much or have much- material goods, fame, or money had never been something he sought after- but the one thing he was staunchly selfish about were those that were close to him.
