Chapter 10: Mistakes

Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any pictures/videos posted

Third P.O.V:

Ochaco knew she had messed up. She knew that she had messed up big time.

Now, she liked to think of herself as a nice and decent person. She liked to view the world with optimism and she believed strongly that there was always a way to make things better in life, both for her and for the people around her.

But in this instance she knew she had made a big mistake.

When she had first realised Heather was quirkless, her mind instantly told her that Heather didn't belong here. No quirkless child had ever made it to the hero department, and for Ochaco that meant they clearly weren't supposed to be in U.A in the first place. But that wasn't to say she didn't like Heather. Truthfully, Heather seemed like someone she would enjoy the company of, but Ochaco wasn't dumb. She knew her chances of becoming friends with Heather now were slim to non.

But that didn't much matter right? After all, it was like she had said before: it only meant it would hurt less when she had to leave.

Ochaco thought this was fine. So what if she could of made a potential friend? So what if guilt was slowly clawing at her heart? That surely didn't mean anything!

Well, unfortunately, it did.

See, it was not long after Izuku had ran off on the first day that Ochaco had started thinking, really thinking, about Heathers situation. She'd never typically thought about what it must be like for someone without a quirk. The media never really said anything and, as far as she knew, Ochaco had never even met someone who was quirkless. The only thing she'd really heard about them is that they make up 20% of the population and that was it.

So Ochaco decided to do some research.

But, oddly enough, there wasn't much on quirkless people. There were a few articles in tabloids about them but nothing worth interest. Though Ochaco did find one small paragraph by a particularly sympathetic reporter about how it was getting harder and harder for Quirkless people to find jobs.

She then looked at internet rants on the subject. Which depending on how she looked at it, she wasn't sure she didn't regret reading them.

Some rants were sympathetic to quirkless people, similar to the reporter. But those sympathies were often overshadowed by the amount of pure hate that was posted.

Some particularly hateful posts outright said that removing the Quirkless population (in other words: a genocide) was the best option for everyone.

Ochaco felt many things while reading these posts. First she felt horror. Then disgust. Disappointment. Then finally guilt.

Guilt because even if she hadn't insulted Heather directly, she shun her out the same as probably many other people in Heather's life had as well.

But this didn't mean Ochaco agreed with Heather being in U.A. She felt bad for her sure, but that surely didn't mean Heather could finish U.A. It just wasn't possible. You need a quirk to become a hero.

At least that's what she thought until Fight Training.

She had overheard Asui and Heather talking to each other while they were getting changed, she hadn't heard all of the conversation but something Asui had said stuck with her.

"I know you passed the entrance exam like the rest of us"

That's right. Heather had hadn't she.

The girl had somehow passed the entrance exam and gotten 18th place in Aizawa's test. Without a quirk.

And didn't that just feel like a punch in the boob. Realising that you not only were wrong about someone, but that you judged them based on how they were born. Which therefore, judged the whole population of quirkless people.

So yeah. Ochaco knew she had messed up badly, and right now all she really wanted to do was try and apologise. She just hoped Heather accepted it.

Speaking of... She thought.

"S-Shiori!" Ochaco called out nervously before the other girl could exit the changing room. "C-can I talk to you for a minute...? Please...?" Her voice stuttered and diminished the longer she went on.

Heather halted in her step before she went out a conflicted expression crossing her face briefly. Asui paused as well but, after staring at Ochaco for a bit, seemed to conclude that Heather would be fine, and left the two in the room alone.

Heather sighed and turned around slowly to face the girl and Ochaco almost grimaced when she realised Heather was already anticipating the worst from her. Anticipating more judgement. But nevertheless, Heather kept her chin up and looked directly at Ochaco no matter how dreadful she thought the coming conversation was sure to be.

"I-I" Ochaco stuttered, twiddling her thumbs. Heather looked at her impatiently and crossed her arms. "Yes?" She snapped when Ochaco stayed silent for a few seconds.

Ochaco squeaked, "I-I want to apologise" she finally managed and watched at Heather instantly gawked at her.

"You- what?" Heather fumbled.

Ochaco fiddled with her skirt, "I know that this is a bit sudden, but I-I realise that I have been unfair to you and... What I said was uncalled for... So- " She bowed towards Heather "-I'm sorry! You didn't deserve what I had said on the first day. You have every right to be here just like us!" She said with as much sincerity as possible.

Heather continued to gape, jaw slacked, as if this was the first time someone had ever said 'sorry' to her. Ochaco vaguely realised, with a bit of horror, that this probably was the first time anyone had apologised to her for this.

Ochaco kept her head bowed, even after she had spoken. Waiting for Heather to say something.

"..why?" Heather finally said and was met with Ochaco's puzzled face. "Why would-why would you apologise?" She asked.

"B-because what I said was wrong!" Ochaco replied, keeping her bowed position. "And I shouldn't have judged you like that!"

"You-you're serious..." Heather said in disbelief and Ochaco nodded as best she could.

It was at this point Heather realised that Ochaco was being genuine.

"Then I-it's fine!" Heather stuttered, eternally cursing her fumbling words. An embarrassed flush spreading to her cheeks. "I-I forgive you." She said and despite the slight stutter, she was sure of her decision.

Ochaco finally looked up, giving a relieved grin, and before Heather could even blink she was swept up into a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Ochaco repeated earnestly. Heather hugged back lightly, slightly dazed and confused. "N-no problem..."

Ochaco giggled at this as she released Heather from the hug. "I think maybe we should start over then." She said and held out her hand, "I'm Uraraka Ochaco! Nice to meet you!"

Heather smiled back just as brightly and shook her hand, "Shiori Heather."

So yes, Ochaco had messed up. But she was going to make sure she never made that mistake again.

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"Hey Midoriya!" Kirashima hollered as the boy opened the classroom door. "Good work!" The boy congratulated as he cheerfully walked up to him. "Man, I don't know what you were saying during the match, but you were fired up!"

"I can't believe you fought evenly with Bakugou, who was first in the entrance exam!" Sero said admiringly.

"You did a good job dodging!" Mina chirped with them.

"You guys did that in the first match, so the rest of us had to give it our all, too!" Sato said with a grin.

Aoyama preened, "You were far from elegant but-" Mina interrupted the French boy,"You were amazing!"

Midoriya gaped at them, overwhelmed with the praise. "H-huh?" Though, none of the small group seemed to notice the boy's bewilderment.

"I'm Eijiro Kirishima! We're all going over the training together!" The red head said giving him a dashing smile.

"I'm Hanta Sero!"

"I'm Yuga Aoya-" he was once again interrupted by Mina. "I'm Mina Ashido!" Asui peeked around Mina and calmly introduced herself as well.

"I'm Tsuyu Asui. Call me Tsu."

Sato grinned. "I'm Sato!"

Midoriya glanced rapidly between them nervously sweating. "Um... Er..." His stuttering was halted by a grape haired boy who jumped in between the students. "I'm Mineta!" (ew)

"Where the heck did you pop out from?" Sero asked the small boy while Aoyama tried to introduce himself again.

"You're too loud." A deep voice rumbled behind them. This seemed to set off Iida as he immediately went sprinting towards the source of the voice.

"Tokoyami! That desk is not a chair! Get off immediately!" He flailed his arms around dramatically.

"It's not that big of a deal" Jiro said unconcerned.

Iida sputtered. "Wha-! I cannot condone actions that disrespect the desks the great men and women who are our upperclassmen once used!"

"You're too loud!" Tokoyami rumbled again.

The backdoor of the classroom opened suddenly and Kaminari, Ochaco and Heather walked in with newly bought classroom books. Izuku peeked behind the small crowd of people to see them and frowned slightly at the closeness between Ochaco and Heather. He looked to Heather and mouthed "are you okay?" Gesturing at Ochaco.

Heather blinked at him from across the room and smiled with a nod, signalling that everything was fine. More than fine. Izuku smiled back.

But then Heather noticed his injuries.

"Hey, Uraraka, Heather, wanna grab a bite to eat sometime? What do you like?" Kaminari asked, but before he got a reply from either of them, Heather sprinted down the classroom towards Izuku, seemingly not to have heard a single thing Kaminari had said.

"Izuku! Recovery girl didn't heal your injuries?" Heather squeaked as she ran over to the green boy, not noticing the disappointed look Kaminari had as she ran away.

Midoriya smiled sheepishly at the question, "oh, uh, it's because of how much stamina I have, and..." He paused as his gaze swept over a vacant seat in the classroom. Bakugou's seat.

"Um, Heather, do you know where Kaa-chan is?"

Heather glanced over at the seat as well and shrugged, "no idea." She then turned to Ochaco and asked, "hey Ururaka! Do you know where Bakugou went?"

The girl smiled apologetically in reply, "sorry, but he went home just now without saying anything."

Midoriya blinked before running out of the classroom at full speed, not paying any mind to his injuries. The students in the classroom all watched in confusion as he ran.

Ochaco came up behind Heather and watch as he ran away. "What was that about?" Heather shrugged in reply.

Then Heather felt a gaze on the back of her head. She turned and saw Iida staring at her but he quickly looked away once he was caught.

Heather frowned but decided she'd had enough excitement for one day and turned back to Ururaka who was now chatting animatedly to the other girls in the class.

"The way you used your gravity quirk was great Ururaka!" Mina exclaimed to Ochaco, miming the same actions Ochaco had don't in the training. "The way you lifted the pillar and used it as a bat! That was so cool!"

Ochaco rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "yeah but like Momo said before, it wasn't such a smart move... If that had been a real bomb..."

Mina shrugged unbothered, "doesn't mean it didn't look cool!"

Asui nodded, "even if that move was reckless, it doesn't mean you can't use it in the future."

The invisible girl, Hagakure, seemed to agree, "yeah and you still won in the end. At least you actually got to do something with your quirk..." She said glumly, thinking back to her match where she was frozen to the ground.

Heather smiled empathetically, "tell me about it. My team won and I didn't even do anything. I was pretty useless."

Yaoyorozu perked up at them, "non-sense! The fact that you realised you had to step back is enough evidence to show you're already ahead of most of the boys here."

"Doesn't change the fact we couldn't even do anything..." The invisible girl said, but Momo was undeterred.

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances in training to help. You're both quite athletic unlike many students here who rely solely on their quirk. I'd say you'd probably beat me if we were up against each other."

Heather smiled, "you think so?"

Momo beamed, "of course! Those athletics with a quirk? No way I would win!"

Heather's smile slipped just slightly, "right," she said "with a quirk..."

Ururaka and Asui glanced at her with concern for a moment before the girls brought them back into the conversation. Heather kept quiet for the rest of the day, only answering when prompted. The other girls didn't seem to mind and took it in stride which only made Heather feel worse.

As the day came to a close and she walked home alone, Heather couldn't stop thinking:

What happens when they find out I'm quirkless?

Because Heather wasn't optimistic enough to think she could hide it from the class forever. And she wasn't to sure they'd still treat her the same either. What happened with Ochaco was different. Ochaco was against her at first, then changed. That was a once in a lifetime event that would probably never happen again.

Heather knows Nina told her to "hold her head up high" when it came to her quirklessness. But God was it painful to think about telling her classmates.

She liked how they treated her now. She liked how Momo encouraged her to do better and to believe in herself. She liked how Mina was so casual and excited with her, even though they barely knew each other. She liked how Asui was so blunt and straightforward with her. She liked how Hagakure was so sweet and understanding with her about the training.

And Heather wasn't sure if it would stay that way.

(Iida's reaction told her that much)

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Just a note:
So Ochaco is now included in the small friendship circle! Hurrah! (I would add Asui or Todoroki but Asui hasn't been told Heather's quirkless up front and Todoroki refuses to accept any form of friendship at this point like the angsty dramatic teen he his :P)

Iida unfortunately still has a bit of a stick up his ass, but who knows? Maybe he'll be convinced to change.

Well one things for sure, thanks to him, Heather sure won't be willingly telling everyone about her qurklessness anytime soon.

Well... Almost everybody ;)