She couldn't believe it. After all this time, Izuku was next door to her. For the past four years she lived here, she never thought that they were neighbors. Why didn't he bring it up to her when they talk? Better yet, how come she never noticed?

When her family moved in, they were initially going to greet their new neighbors. But, unfortunately, even with the cheaper rent, they still have to work always to meet ends so they couldn't welcome them.

Taking a deep breath, she stands and walks towards his door. She won't let him slip away again, not this time. She waits a little bit after she knocks, the door opens, showing a figure of green hair. 

"Hello. May I help You?" Inko asks the brunette cautiously. She dislikes assuming the worst of things of people, but she had enough of the torture her son endured. She refuses to make that mistake again.

"Hello. Um, I'm here to see Izuku Midoriya," Ochako replies politely, "I've been trying to talk to him for months now. But with sudden massive drops of assignments given to us, and with UA exams, it was hard to find the time to speak to him. And when I did have the time, he just disappeared."

Inko took a moment or two to reflect on the brunette's answer. "Why do you want to speak to my son?" 

Ochako rubs her arm slowly, looking down as her cheeks become a bit darker. "Well, I saw him cleaning up the beach when it was full of garbage," she looks back at Inko, smiling at the memory of the beautiful view of the beach. "And he saved me during UA entrance Exams. But I never got the chance to say 'thank you' to him. And I feel so dumb for not realizing that we were neighbors this entire time." To say Inko is surprised is an understatement; she's not surprised by the fact she is her neighbor, not even close. The fact that someone was looking for her sweet Izuku all this time just to not only talk to him but thank him is what surprised her. She can't even think of any other human other than herself thanking her son for a good deed he has done, and that saddens her immensely. But here is this girl, a pretty one at that. 

But is she telling the truth? Is she just saying lies to get to her son so she can insult him? Or maybe, that only this once in her son's whole life, someone is genuinely just wanting to be kind to him and accept who he is?

Inko was about to ask another question if he did save her, but then she remembers when Izuku got his results. All Might said he got rescue points for saving 'Young Uraraka,' and maybe this girl is this Uraraka person he saved that resulted in him getting rescue points? Perhaps asking a different question will determine the truth and the lie.

"Excuse me, but may I know your name? And how did he save you?" she asks, deciding to get more information on her to see if she genuinely is this 'Uraraka.' Izuku had told her how the test went, and how he saved Uraraka during it.

"My name is Ochako Uraraka. I'm sorry that I didn't introduce myself earlier," she rubs her arm slowly, feeling a little shameful for not introducing herself earlier. "It's okay, don't overthink it," Inko reassures her.

'That's one, but let's see if she's the real deal.' Inko thought as she recalled when Izuku told her how he saved 'Young Uraraka' in the entrance exams. 

 "Well, I tripped when I was trying to get away from the Giant Zero Pointer. And then Midoriya lifted the debris off of me, even the big one!" she finishes while moving her hands around circular in a dramatic fashion, trying to describe how large that debris is. Inko chuckles a bit at the brunette's overenthusiastic display. Even when she's under interrogation, Ochako attempted to lighten the mood so the atmosphere wouldn't make any sense.

Letting the information process in, it sounds note to note from what Izuku told her from his point of view, just with a lot less detail into it. But the key events are there. There's no denying it now; she's the real deal. 

Giving it some more thought, Inko takes a deep breath and exhales. 'If things get out of hand, I'll immediately step in and ask her to leave.' Satisfied with her decision, she gave the girl a small yet soft smile. "I see. Sure, I'll let you in. Izuku is in his room right now doing some exercises." she opens the door further, welcoming the girl. Ochako bows to the woman, feeling grateful and relieved. "Thank You so much, Mrs. Midoriya!" Ochako said happily.

"You're welcome," Inko replies warmly, watching the girl straighten herself up. Ochako walks into the house, feeling a sense of accomplishment that she will finally, finally, get to speak to the boy.  It didn't take long to find his room since the apartment establishment is small, and the sign that has his name on it gave it away too. 

Breathing in n' out, gathering some confidence, she knocks on the door. She waited for a few moments until she heard a voice she hasn't heard in so long.

"Come in." 

She opens the door slowly, hoping not to hit anything by accident. She didn't know what to expect when she enters the teen's room, even after thinking about how things will play out, seeing him shirtless while doing pull-ups. His abs clench for every pull up he's done, sweat dripping down his torso slowly, making it the muscular form shine.

Ochako.EXE has stopped working.

Noticing that he didn't hear any response, he says, "You need help with something mo-URARAKA!?!?!" he trails off into shock when he looks towards the said person staring at him. To say he didn't expect her in his home, in his room no less, is an understatement. Suddenly, he falls to the ground due to loosening his grip on the bar. "Ow," Izuku groans at the sudden collision. He slowly gets up into a sitting position, unaware of the brunette's gaze at him. 

Izuku reluctantly looks back at Ochako when he manages to sit correctly. He doesn't know how she managed to convinced his mother to let her in, or better yet, how she found out about them living next door from each other. He knew it would be a matter of time that she would found out, but he certainly wasn't prepared for it even after he stopped practicing the inevitable event. 

Before he shunned himself, he used to rehearsed himself of what to say and trying to be level headed so he wouldn't break down to a stuttering mess when introducing her to his mother. He had thought that he should at least prepare. Now, the cat's out of the bag. How is he going to handle this?

"Uh, Uraraka? Ho-"

Izuku couldn't finish his sentence because of the massive among of blood pouring out of Ochako's nose, which somehow made her drop to the ground, making her pass out from the sudden blood loss.

Hours later, she wakes up groggily on Izuku's couch. Tissues in her nose to stop the blood loss from earlier. She slowly sets herself upwards to sit on the couch properly. She pulls out the tissues and sets them aside. As she gets up, Inko walks in with green tea. Along with her is Izuku. She sets the tea on the coffee table and Izuku, begrudgingly, sits next to Ochako on the couch. "How are you feeling, dear?" Inko asks the young brunette. "I'm fine. I don't know where that nosebleed came from," She says, avoiding looking at Izuku, the same for him.

"Have some tea, dear. It'll make you feel better." She offers the young girl. She nods and takes one of the cups. Izuku takes one and drinks from it. They all sit in dead, awkward silence. Neither Izuku nor Ochako could say anything to each other. Or at least in front of Inko. "I'll see myself out. I think you two have a lot to say to each other." She leaves to her bedroom for the two to talk to each other.

Ochako feels better to talk to him now that Inko wasn't there. So she can finally talk to him after so long. "Hey. I need to ask you something. Why were you cleaning the beach? What else did Bakugou do to you? Why didn't you ever tell me that you were my neighbor? Why didn't you want to be my friend?" She asks, with the last one more silent than the others. She knew some of the answers, but she needed to know for sure.

He stares at the cup in his hands, trying to regulate his tone so he wouldn't break down so suddenly. "I cleaned the beach because no one believed in me, so I had to believe in myself I could be a hero. I don't have enough time to go into detail about the things Bakugou did to me. Burning, beating me up, public humiliation, the works. I didn't tell you I was your neighbor because I always went straight home to avoid getting bullied and attacked. And... I did want to be your friend. But it was hard. Being bullied so much left me with no room to be able to make friends, and when I saw you and Bakugou, I just couldn't," He says, choking a bit at the end. Every answer he gave her slowly broke her more inside.

"Now... I have a question for you," He turns to look at her. "Why were you with Bakugou in the first place?" He asks lightly, clenching his cup. Ochako sets her cup of tea to the coffee table, she clenched her skirt together in fury at the mere thought of that monster that used in an attempt to break this boy, who's been nothing but kind and selfless. Someone who truly is a hero, even when quirkless.

"He came up to me out of nowhere and asked me if I wanted to be his friend. I said yes because, at the time, I didn't know what kind of monster he was," She answers with regret and anger as the events of that day appeared back. He looks at her in shock, squeezing his cup tighter to the point where it cracks a bit. Izuku knew that Bakugou is aware of his crush on the brunette, so he knew Bakugou would try to break his last glimpse of joy by making it look like he took her away from him. His utter hatred for Bakugou grew deeper, something he thought was impossible. He should've confronted her about it, he's such an idiot.

He stays quiet and stares at his tea. Then she said something that surprised him, "I'm sorry."

He looks at her in shock. She was not expecting him to say that. "I'm sorry for never noticing what was happening to you. For never putting it together that Bakugou was making your life horrible. For becoming friends with that monster. And for never being the friend I should've been to you," She says with tears brimming her eyes.

"And... I know what... you are."

'Sh-she-'

"I know you're quirkless Midoriya." She turns her whole body to face him, "I just found out today when Bakugou tried to assault you after school. I heard some noise in the back and I was shocked by what I saw, and I was disgusted by what that monster said and did to you. And when you knocked him out, I heard you say that you're quirkless. And I was..."

'I knew it, she is like the rest of the-'

"Amazed."

'Wait what?' He sets his tea down and turns his body to face her. Did she call him amazing? For being quirkless? Someone with no power?

"No.." He mutters, "You're lyin-"

"No! I'm Not lying!" She cuts him off, something he is taken aback of.

"You, someone who is quirkless, cleaned the entire beach all by himself! You, someone who defeated someone with a quirk! And You," she grasps his hands into hers, lifting them to her chest, "Someone who saved my life. And all while being quirkless. How can I not be amazed?" she lowers their hands down, she scoots herself closer to him as tears threatening to escape from both her and his eyes.

"You are a Hero Midoriya, My Hero."

She called him a hero, and she meant it, all of it. She thinks he can be a Hero even when he's quirkless. All of his frustrations, his sadness, his anger, melt away for something new. Happiness. He always wanted to hear these words in his entire life but gave up hope for it as the years go by. But then, she came into his life and said the unthinkable.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he can let her inside. And finally, be truly happy. Happy to be alive and to have a friend. Slowly, he wraps his arms around her. It caught her off guard, making her a bit confused yet at the same time, relieved. 

"I forgive you, Uraraka," Izuku said softly to her, it was low but she heard it.

"And Thank you, for everything."

She hugs him back tightly, and lets out the tears she's been holding back. All the anger, frustration, sadness, everything she's feeling, right along with Izuku. They just sit there, holding onto each other for as long as they can.

Unbeknownst to them, Inko has been watching them this whole time. She watches the two, crying herself and smiling. She closes the door to her room and leaves them alone. For as long as they need it.

"Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating in a while. Truth be told, This first half of the chapter was written by me and Ryan wrote the rest. I was originally going to write this whole chapter but then I experienced Writer's block for the first time and I am losing motivation to write so I asked ryan if he could write the other half to which he said yes so it's all good!

Thank you for reading!" -Shonaku

"Hi. Ryan here...........bye."