I'll Love You Forever『A My Hero Academia AU』

Chapter 6: Do You Remember?

Her voice chokes up in comical manner.
"And then 'she-who-shall-not-be-named' shows up...
Hey, whatever happened to her anyway?"

He cringes to himself, but in a self-satisfactory kind of way.
"Oh my goodness, don't even remind me."

She continues his thought.
"Then there was the whole misunderstanding, then you had to chase me...
I don't... I don't think I ever apologized for throwing you into the air."

He scratches the back of his head.
"No, it's okay, I deserved it. It would have gotten a lot worse if it weren't for Katsuki and-"

He stops his thought, and the two stare off into the distance for a few moments, observing the distant city lights from where they're sitting.

Nostalgia is such a fascinating emotion. Living in the moment has such a vast difference compared to reminiscing on it in the future. You couldn't have known that you were making memories when, at the time, you were just living your life as normally as you could remember.

How bittersweet. It's a blissful reminder of the past — remembering how new, different and exhilarating the days of yesterday were. Even then, you're also reminded that those feelings are gone... that all the love, the passion and the promises given in the past have changed.

Forever doesn't exist. Soon, everything fades with time — everyone will grow up and come to understand that their lives are a finite concept. We are all capable of growth and change; it's what makes us human, for better or worse. Even then, some of us aren't ready to handle that change, especially when our lives come at us at the blaring pace it does.

But when you find someone whose feelings for you don't change?

What a lovely sentiment.

...Laughable, even.

"That was the night you told me you wanted me."
The girl says, her face growing warmer, more red. She shyly inches closer towards him, nuzzling her head against his neck. The two sit in silence for a moment of respite.

She smiles sweetly
"That was the night you told me you loved me. Well.. we've been saying it for a while, but... that night was the night that it truly felt like you meant it."

He doesn't respond. After his silence, she lightly tugs on his arm.
"You remember, don't you?"

His head slowly drifts off.
"...Always."

Afterwards, the two turn to face each other. What a familiar sight... The memories of their time together come rushing back as they come to remember the love they had shared. After all, they were each other's firsts.

Acknowledging that, however, they didn't know what it was like to love someone this way before they had each other. How could they know how to treat the person they loved when they've never had any prior experiences like that?

They're new to this. Is it no wonder how they were each other's first, while also hoping that they'll be the last? Now, they're going to get married, grow a family, and spend the rest of their lives together before even the prospect of graduating High School. They're going to become adults, leaving everything they've known behind, all because they didn't know any better.

Forced to grow up.

This is what they wanted right?

This is happily ever after.

He shivers.

It must be because it's cold.

She places her palm on his face.

Giving him a tender kiss before pulling away.
"I love you..."

He turns over, smiling.
"...Me too."

The girl slowly stands up from where she's seated. She turns towards her lover, and clasps his hands in hers.
"The hill that we told each other... it's only a few minutes away."

He slowly looks up at her.
"You... want to go?"

She gives him a big, open smile.
"Yes! We're already here, a-and we haven't been there since that night. Don't you think it'll be fun to go back there after all this time?"

He's surprised, seeing her go from worried to excited.
"But what about..."

She pulls him up. It's obvious that she's struggling, but she begins pulling him towards the direction of the hill. Even though she has difficulty moving, she's still giving him a bright, hopeful smile.

"You said that we needed to make sure we're okay, right? Then let's go to the spot where it all started! We're already going down memory lane, so why not? Come on, we're practically there already!"

She continues pulling on him, but his face is visibly showing doubt. Even then, she's trying not to point it out...

"Hey... don't you want to remember...?"

While still stringing him along, he suddenly plants his feet against the gravel, causing her to trip over. She manages to catch herself before falling, but she still takes a few seconds to recover.

She turns around to him.
"Hey! Why did you do that?"

He responds coldly.
"If you have enough energy to walk all the way there, then you can walk five minutes to where we're supposed to be going."

She's dumbstruck, but he doesn't say anything more. He takes a few steps towards her; she unconsciously takes a step back. She tries to make sense of the situation, hoping that he can enlighten her.

But... he doesn't. He walks around her, not even giving her his gaze.
"Let's go... We're late."

He trails off.

She can't even muster a response.

She only watches him drift away.

Farther from her.

Farther and farther.

Further and further...