Deku walked through the town much faster than he normally would've, desperately looking for the girl he'd met earlier. (Met wasn't the right word. He'd interrogated her and then told her the heck away from this place as fast as she could.) Unfortunately, Deku had already known that she wouldn't make it. The river was in full force, and now he had to find her before she faded away forever. For some reason, the very thought made him want to sprint full speed in search of her, but he controlled himself. He couldn't understand why he cared so much, but he knew that they'd met before. It was a vague memory, but it was one of the only ones he still had. 'Miku. That's definitely her name.' He thought. That was important here. Names were the thing that could free you- or, in his case, trap you.
Miku. The name felt familiar on his tongue, as if he'd spoken it a million times before in a million different contexts. It was warm and tasted of his favorite katsu don, sliding through his vocal cords like a comforting soup. Looking at her was comforting as well, he noted, thinking back to their meeting on the bridge. Deku had been taken aback by the depth of her chocolatey eyes when they locked on his. He swore he could've drowned in the beauty of her before, but looking into her deep, introspective eyes, cemented it. Looking at her sparked an achingly familiar feeling in him, as if he'd spent his entire life loving her. Deku wished he remembered something more than her name and some emotions, because he was sure that this was something he didn't want to skirt the edges of his memory, darting out of reach every time he approached it.
Well, considering Deku couldn't remember anything about his past, that wasn't anything to shocking. What was shocking was that he felt like he needed to remember her. Like he needed to be with her. So, back to his search. If he didn't get some food from the spirit world into her soon, he wouldn't even have a chance to remember her because she would be gone. Again, he felt tears build up behind his eyes and his saliva thickening. Deku had noticed that he was prone to crying. He wished he knew if he'd always been like this or if it was a recent development.
Speaking of crying, his ears picked up on the sound of small sobs from on the edge of the town. He headed in that direction, pleased to find Miku curled up, leaning against a wall of a less popular stall. She was staring at her hands, trying to keep distressed sobs from escaping her lips. "Hey." Deku said, squatting down next to her.
Miku jumped, trying to push him away in surprise. That obviously didn't work, because she was pushing herself against a wall, he was much stronger than she was, and well, she already much more ghostly than Deku would've liked. "Hey, hey." He repeated, at a loss for what to say. Deku felt his ability to comfort others, which he was sure existed somewhere in his subconscious since it popped up so often, flit away as usual. The whole not remembering himself was more infuriating around this girl than it ever had been. "You need to eat." He settled on trying to get her to eat the small berry before continuing with helping her. All his (most likely failed) efforts to comfort her would be pointless if she faded from existence.
She looked up at him, some battle playing out behind her eyes, but she evidently decided she could trust him since she reached out her hand and took the berry in between her fingers. She examined it for a few more seconds before looking up at him, meeting his eyes. He was silently pleading with her to just swallow it. She put it in her mouth and ate it. Deku let out a small of breath of relief as his heart skipped a beat. 'She had no concrete reason to trust me. Does she know me as I know her?' He wondered briefly before turning his attention back to helping her survive the night. "Are you alright, Miku?" He asked her, letting her name slip out without even thinking about it.
Miku's eyes snapped back to him. "How do you know my name?" She asked suspiciously. 'Ah. So she doesn't know my name.' Deku couldn't be too disappointed. He didn't know his name either.
