The next morning finally came to the village in the north.
As always everyone was up and ready for the day from guarding the fences to doing their daily chores for the day. Midoriya woke up from the noises outside, but he didn't move at all since Mina was still sleeping soundly on his chest with the blanket covering the both of them.
'Guess she needed it to let go...' he thought. He slowly moved his hand, placed it onto her hair and gently stroked it.
'Has her hair always been this messy?'
"THEY'RE HERE!!! OPEN THE GATES!!" The fences begin to open which wakes up Mina.
"Huh?"
"I think they're here." Midoriya said. Immediately Mina pushed herself up, stretched her arms out and let out a huge yawn.
"Morning sleepy head." Midoriya said with a small smile on his face. She looked at him and gave him a genuine smile. Seeing her smiling like that again did put him at ease for a bit.
"Ready to go meet them?" He asked.
"You know it." Once they were dressed and had their shoes on, they both walked out the tent with the sun shining out through the clouds that were in the way. Outside, they noticed some of the villagers were talking to Mr. Aizawa who was with the two youngsters along with Eri who was staying close to him. What surprised them both was that Bakugou was there too, Midoriya did think that he was there in case they get ambushed and needed to use his quirk to protect them.
"Welcome to the north village, Aizawa." Gramps said with a smile on his face and a cane on his hand. Ever since he overused his quirk during that incident, he was taking a lot longer for recovery time and needed some support for his balance as well as taking a few more breaks than usual, but even so he still takes care of his people.
"So you finally decided to use the cane," Aizawa mentioned as he looked at the cane by him.
"Thought you wouldn't notice it." Gramps added who sounded a little bit embarrassed.
"I'm not blind you know."
"I know," Everyone did greet them with open arms, well more so with Katsuma who was happy to be back in the village that found him.
"Good to see you here again," Hado said as he ruffled his hair which made him laugh. "Decided to come back to the north?"
"I'm just here to pay my respects to Mimi." Hado smiled a bit when he said that.
"Little man!" He looked over, saw both Mina and Midoriya walking towards them waving at them, and found himself going up to them both.
"Pinky! Midoriya!" He manages to hug them, but only for a moment or two before he lets them go.
"So this is the north village?" Mahoro questioned as she looked around the area. "Looks a lot bigger here than at the other one."
"You think so?" Bakugou asked, a bit annoyed.
"Yep! And more friendlier than someone I know," when she said that, she gave Bakugou that smirk look on her face.
"Hey you take that back you little brat!!"
"Never!" That annoyed him even more, but before he could say anything else, he was hit on the top his head by Mr. Aizawa who was just as annoyed about her attitude, but even more with Bakugou's outburst.
"Bakugou, what did I say before we got here?"
"Don't be a loudmouth punk." While everyone else was either talking to Katsuma and Mahoro, or just trying to laugh at Bakugou for getting into trouble once again, Midoriya stood there seeing everyone having a good time for once. Although the kids were only here to pay their respects to Mimi, they were also here to hang out with them as well as getting to know more about the other villages that were here inside the forest away from the abandoned city.
Throughout most of the day, the kids along with Midoriya were learning more about the history of how the village came to be, seeing a few trainers working on their quirks, eating some sweets that Sato made which did surprised them a lot, just having a good time together, heck even Bakugou was sort of enjoying himself. Eventually it was time for them to visit Mimi's shrine. All around the kids saw so many flowers that were freshly picked, some candles that were out, a couple of toys, and even some photographs too.
"Mimi," Katsuma said quietly. He slowly went up to the shrine, looked at the photographs that were there and slowly took out the bracelet.
"I made this for you," He began, "It had the red and blue colors on it with a M in the middle, hope you like it." He gently placed it onto the rope, made sure it stayed there, took a couple steps back, and gave a little bow to the shrine. Seeing the shrine right in front of them was still odd for Mina, heck she still believed that she will come back from her scouting mission any moment now with that same old smile on her face and messing with her little horns like when she was a 'little sinker' (one of the many nicknames that both Mimi and Hikari called her). Without even thinking at all, she went a bit closer to the shrine, stood beside Katsuma, kneeled down to his level, and lowered her body to bow to the shrine.
'You know I still miss you,' She thought. 'Everyday, I miss you, I miss your voice, I miss training with you, I miss speaking to you, I just...I just miss you, so, damn, much...'
"Pinky," Her thoughts ended when Katsuma tapped her on her back. She sat up a bit and looked at him.
"Yeah,"
"Is there a way to say thank you?" Mina was a little confused about what he meant by that.
"What do you mean?" She asked. He then took a deep breath and started explaining to her that his big sister said to him a bit earlier that they should say their thanks to Mimi since she was able to reunite them. For a moment or two, she tried to think of ways to have them say thank you to Mimi, but then she looked at the little letter that was next to the picture of Mimi, young Hado and herself sitting together giving out a peace sign.
"I think I know how you can say thank you to Mimi."
"You do?!!" He was getting a little excited at this point. "How?! How?!"
"Extra papers and pencils you say?" Hado said to Mina.
"Yes," She said. "Katsuma wanted to say thank you to Mimi, but he didn't know if he said it would reach her, so I suggested that both him and Mahoro could write it and place it onto her shrine, so that's why I'm asking you now. Do you think you can give us extra papers and pencils too?"
"I don't see why not," He said to her. That made her smile a bit.
"I know you can come through," She said while nudging his shoulder. Sure enough Hado was able to provide the kids some paper and a couple of colored pencils for them to use and the next thing they know she along with a couple of others were writing out their thanks while also drawing too.
"This is really amazing that you have some papers for them to use," Midoriya said to Hado.
"It's like I said, everyone has permission to write it," Hado said while handing out a couple of envelopes for the kids to put in.
"Midoriya," Katsuma said to him. "Look! Look!" He then saw this little drawing of two figure sticks standing next to each other with some flowers on it and a sun at the corner.
"That looks amazing," Midoriya said while giving him a thumbs up.
"Amazing Man!" Hado added. As he went back to his drawing, Mina came by to see what they had been doing, but when she did, Katsuma spoke up.
"Pinky! Pinky! You do one too!"
"What?"
"I think he wants you to write something for Mimi," Midoriya said to her.
"I don't have to write it, no thank you." That comment caught him by surprise, she's usually all ready to go and able to do tasks such as cleaning, training, and scouting, but for her to refuse to write something to Mimi, that was unlike her.
"How come?" the little boy asked.
"I uhh..." Before she could say anymore, Hado grabs a couple pieces of paper, a pencil, and hands it to her.
"What are you doing?"
"I know you still have a lot of things to say to her, so why not just write it down?" She was a bit skeptical about the idea of writing a letter to someone who will never get the chance to read it, but even so she sort of agreed to write something to her.
"Want to sit with us?" Mahoro asked.
"No, No it's fine," she said. "And besides I prefer not to share it to anyone since I'm writing it to Mimi."
"Oh good idea," Mahoro looked around and continued writing with caution.
'UGH!!! What am I even supposed to write?!' Mina's by herself, leaning against the tree and biting on her end of the pencil.
'Why bother even writing it to her, it's not like she's gonna even read it anyway...'
She rubbed her forehead a bit before she moved away from the tree and started walking for a bit. She thought that a little bit of walking would do her some good, but nothing. Not too long ago, she was thinking a lot of things that she could say to her, but now since she does have an opportunity to do so, her mind just drew a blank. She kept walking and walking until she found herself standing in front of Mimi's shrine.
'What am I supposed to say to her?' She thought while feeling herself getting frustrated. 'Come on! You're known as the chatterbox in the village and yet I can't even write a single word! AAAHHH!!!' she grips onto the papers like she wanted to just tear it apart or just crumble it up into a ball and yet she still held onto it.
'Damn it,' She felt tears forming, but luckily she wiped them away. 'Don't cry, you've...you've done enough of it...'
"Ashido." She regained her focus a bit while wiping her eyes dry. She noticed Gramps standing there with his hand on her shoulder along with a sympathetic smile on his face.
"Oh, hi Gramps," She said. He then noticed that she was holding onto a couple sheets of paper and knew what she was about to do and yet he asked her about it.
"You gonna write something to her?"
"Yeah," she said in a shaky voice but cleared her throat. "Well, trying to at least."
"Trying to?" Mina nodded. "What's stopping you?" She didn't say anything to him, well not at first anyway.
"Is there even a point to write it even if they're no longer here?" Gramps knew what she meant. For a long time, whenever he did see Mina, she was always standing in front of the shrine and from the looks of it, he could tell that she really wanted to talk to her one more time even though it wasn't possible.
"And besides, I don't know what to write?"
"You can write anything you want." She started to feel that frustration coming back.
"I know that," her voice came back a bit shaky. "But I just can't...my mind is blank right now and I hate feeling like this and..." He gently placed his hand onto her head and rubbed it for a moment before she calmed down a bit.
"It's okay," He said to her. "The letter doesn't have to be perfect, just write how you feel." He then pointed at her heart.
"But..."
"Mina, you can talk for hours on end without even thinking. All I'm saying is just relax yourself for a moment, place the pen onto paper and start, do you understand?" She nodded slightly even though she was more confused. He gently rubs her hair and goes away leaving her all alone. She took a deep breath, sat down facing the shrine, looked at it for a moment, looked back at the empty sheet of paper and placed the pencil onto it.
'Just write something that comes from my heart,' she thought. 'I think I could do that...' Before she knew it she slowly started writing...
Mimi,
I miss you
I miss you talking to me
I miss you training with me
I miss your smile
I miss how you laugh at my stupidity
I just miss you
She swallowed a bit while wiping her face. She took another deep breath and started writing some more...
Mimi,
I want to say one thing to you since I didn't get a chance to say it back then
Thank you
Thank you for the lessons
Thank you for being a caring person
Thank you for always being there for us
Thank you for singing to me whenever i was sad or sick
Thank you for rescuing me back when i was little
Thank you for being the best big sister that I could ever have
Thank you for everything
She was finally done. She looked at the letter again, but when she did, she felt tears forming again.
'Damn it,' She started wiping them away as much as she could but the tears kept falling down.
"Hello," Mina looked over and noticed little Eri standing next to her. "Why are you crying? Are you hurt?"
"Don't worry sweetie," she tells her. "I'll be okay." Little Eri went closer to her and slowly wrapped her arms around her.
"It's okay," she said. "It's okay." This simple act of kindness nearly made Mina cry again, but she smiled a bit and hugged her back.
"Eri there you are," Mina looked up and saw Bakugou standing there with the one eyed kitty in his hand.
"Hi Bakugou," she said. Eri looked back and waved at him.
"Bomb boy!" Just the way little Eri said it when Bakugou was there made Mina laugh a bit.
"Is that his nickname you gave him?"
"Uh huh,"
"Awww, that's adorable." Although he was a little annoyed that Eri is still calling him that, he was somewhat happy that Mina's happy-go-lucky attitude is slowly coming back.
"Kitty!" Eri finally lets go of Mina, goes towards Bakugou and grabs the little toy like it was a little baby. Mina stood up, dust herself off, and folded the letter. Before long the rest of their little group came by with their letters written and sealed away.
"Pinky, did you make yours?" Katsuma asked.
"Mhm,"
"Can I see..."
"Katsuma," Mahoro interrupted. "Pinky told us that the letter is only for Mimi."
"Oh, right." One by one, they were able to place the letter onto the shrine.
'This is pointless you know...she's dead!'
She shook her head a bit and gently placed the letter next to the frame that showed Mimi holding onto her when she was little.
'Please take your time to read it.' She gave her respects to the shrine before finally moving away from it.
"Is she going to read the letters?" Eri asked Mahoro.
"She will, it will be a while before it reaches her."
"Ohh, hope she likes it."
"She will love it and the bracelet too!" Katsuma said to them both. Seeing them getting excited about sending out letters to Mimi brought a smile to Midoriya's face along with a few others who were there, even Bakugou was showing a smile.
"Kids," Mr. Aizawa said. "We better head home now."
"Already?" Mahoro complained.
"Yeah, it's getting dark." Bakugou added. "Now come on and let's go."
"Awww!" Within time, some of the group were by the gate saying their goodbyes, telling a certain someone to behave themselves while Gramps gave each of them a prayer.
"I wish for you all to be at your village safe and sound."
"Thank you sir." All three of the kids said and bowed to him.
"Bakugou." Aizawa said as he looked at him with his eyes glowing red. He does the same thing but felt annoyed that he had to be told to do so.
"And I thank you for allowing us to visit your humble home and allow the children to give respect to the dead."
"Aizawa, we better get going," Bakugou said. "The sun's going down."
"Bomb boy."
"Huh?" He looked at little Eri who had her arms up in the air.
"Are you serious?" She nods at him while waving her hands a bit. He sighs a bit and picks her up.
"Awww that's so cute!" Mina said.
"Don't push it Raccoon eyes." Eventually the group finally headed out. As for those who were still by the gates, they just watched them leave either holding onto Aizawa's hand or messing with Bakugou who was holding onto Eri who was waving goodbye at the group.
"Bye bye!!" Both Midoriya and Mina waved back at her.
"She's so cute." Mina said to Midoriya when they were walking back inside.
"She really is," he said. "I'm a little surprised that Kacchan is being nice." That made her laugh a bit.
"He's trying at least, but you know how he doesn't show it sometimes."
"Yeah," Midoriya laughed a bit.
'...you know you're never gonna ignore me...I will always be here...'
He rubbed his head a bit to get rid of his thought, but then he felt someone gently holding onto his hand and getting a little closer to him. He looked and saw Mina there with a smile on her face and her eyes sparkled. He never really thought that he would ever get to see her smile again, hear her laugh, heck he even missed her being a teaser.
"You know I missed you." When he said that, Mina stopped walking and held onto him much tighter than before. At first he thought he said something wrong and was about to apologize, but then suddenly Mina pulled him closer and gave him a kiss on the lips. For a moment he was caught by surprise, but soon he kissed her back. After a little bit she pulled herself away and giggled a bit.
"Guess I should've warned you before I did it."
"Uhh..." he was at a loss for words, but he just smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek.
"Awww Midoriya."
"Hey you two love birds!" They looked over and saw Hanasu calling out to them.
"We better get going!"
"Yes sir!" Mina said to him. "Come on Izuku, let's go." She grabs his hand and they both walk away to go scouting. Hearing her say his first name was still new to him, but that made him smile nevertheless and before he knew it they all went away to do their nightly scout mission.
A/N: I just wanted to say thank you all for reading this AU, honestly it's been one hell of a year & a half and not going to lie I wished that this day will never come, but I guess good things must come to an end, right? Anyway, I will be posting the final chapter on the day before Christmas so please be patient for a little longer, we are almost there to the end :')