Jack And Her Green Muse

Sharp Heart-skip Saturday

Jirou made it a habit to sleep in during the weekends because, well, it was the weekends. A moment of peace, quiet and quality me-time to get the fatigue of the last five days out of the system. But today, at around 9:00 a.m., she was out and about at the Municipal Beach Park in Mustafu that had been mysteriously cleaned by somebody from one end to the other. As she was stretching, she heard a heavy thud, a grunt and crunching sand a little ways off.

Izuku was shaking the sand out of his hair and dusting himself off. It didn't take long to realize that he had just jumped from the street off the railings down to the sand when there was a perfectly functional――not to mention infinitely safer――set of stairs right there. "Did you really have to jump off?"

"I'm practicing to break my fall. Parachutists do it when they land and it reduces the impact to about twenty percent of what it should be if they just landed feet first. Even without using my Quirk, I could jump off the third floor and survive with some bruising. Theoretically."

"You know what? I'm not going to get sucked into this. Can we start running?"

"S-sure." With that, they both took off with a slow jog. Being the one with the longer stride due to the height difference, Izuku was running several steps ahead of her. With a frown, Jirou upped her pace, catching up to him. But it was only a matter of minutes before she was left behind again.

"Dammit....Midoriya, how the hell are you going so fast in the sand!?"

"U-Use your toes! Kick really hard!" He answered taking a brief stop as he ran in place.

"Toes....huh....okay....Toes..." Swinging her arms more as she kicked the sand back with her toes as much as her still sore legs allowed, she moved forward. She didn't feel too much of a difference, but at the very least was no longer falling any further behind.

Maintaining this pace for some time now, Jirou's mind wandered yet again back to her nameless ballad now with a first verse:

Why, oh why do you hide them, why?

Those scars and bruises both new and old

Covering your body, shattering your heart

Some healing, some old, but the bleeding don't stop

But I can tell, I just know it, they sting and ache all the same

"It's okay," you say

With that smile and that laugh

It's genuine, I know, but cracked

Chipping here, now there. See, abrasions everywhere

Jagged tears just spread further like a spider web

But you press on and on. "Always forward," you say

Wait a minute. Wait just a goddamn minute. Jirou realized a possibility that she could not help but consider about the lyrical content and who it was pointing towards. Scars, bruises, always smiling, hiding them until it got forced out of him―――It was none other than the very guy that was running ahead of her. "Oh, holy fucking shit." Ignoring the dull pain shooting up her legs sporadically, she increased her speed, raising her legs higher, kicking the sand harder, faster. "Oh, goddammit, no....."

Apparently Izuku heard her footsteps as he shifted gears, now going at a full sprint as he kicked up a cloud of sand and charging across the shoreline. With his small but powerful lungs inhaling oxygen coursing power through his muscles, he maintained a steady pace for several minutes bounding across the sand before slowing down again remembering to pace himself. Now being able to take the time to look over his shoulder, he did, only to see Jirou still far off in the distance who was moving her legs furiously in her attempt to catch up. "Oh, crap....I did it again." Turning around, he jogged back towards her.