The event continued, as more Pro Heroes arriving to the Meet Up, causing the room to become even more packed, with everyone eating and talking with one another. Izuku still had a slight overwhelming feeling, seeing so many heroes in one place, but meeting up with Iida again definitely removed those fears away. He couldn't help but smile about that. He hadn't seen Iida for a long time, with the last time meeting him in person being about a year ago, but he would still see him on the news and text him on a group chat or separately.
"Here you go, Midoriya." Izuku was brought out of his thoughts by Iida, seeing him hold out a glass of water in front while holding his own.
"Oh, thank you, Iida." He took the cup before taking a sip. "Where's Vulture?"
"Still at the table, getting food. He was also talking to a pro, so he told me to go ahead." Iida explained before taking a drink. "Anyways, how has Minato been?"
"It's been good, great even. A lot of opportunities, so it's never a dull moment." Izuku answered.
"Clearly. I remember seeing you fight off The Destroyer not too long ago."
"Oh, yeah! That was something. In fact, Vulture and I walked past the site today before heading to the Meet Up. They've cleared it out since." Izuku took another sip when a thought came into his mind. "Actually, I was wondering. How come you aren't at the scene? You still work at your family's agency, right?"
"Of course! Unfortunately, I was patrolling at an area that was far from the incident, so I wasn't able to respond." Iida explained. "I'm sure you can imagine my relief when I saw you and your friend were there to help out."
Izuku chuckled. "Yes, we were lucky. It wasn't even during our own patrols. We just happened to be in the area. Truth be told, The Destroyer was pretty tough, so if Vulture didn't come to help after helping with the evacuation, I have a feeling the destruction would be a lot more."
Iida chuckled. "Vulture told me you two have only been friends recently."
"Yeah, about 4 months ago."
"And yet, you still trust and rely on him like you were back in U.A. Bakugo was right, you have gotten stronger, but it's nice to see that you still value your friends in a fight."
Izuku started to feel bashful at the comment, rubbing the back of the head and shuffling a bit. "Wow... umm... thanks, Iida." He then chuckled, which Iida joined in.
"Hey, Midoriya! Iida!" Izuku's eyes grew at hearing a voice that he knew and hadn't heard in a long time. He turned around and a grin came upon his face.
Walking towards him were two boys at his age. The one who called out to Izuku had red, spiky hair, wearing dark red, gear shaped shoulder pads, black sleeves and baggy trousers, with his chest bare. The other male walking next to him had white and red hair spilt in the middle and a scar on his left side, wearing dark blue jacket and trousers.
Izuku waved at them as they came closer. "Kirishima! Todoroki! It's so good to see you guys!"
"Yeah, likewise!" Kirishima smiled. "I heard you were here, but I didn't think I would actually see you."
"It's good to see that Seihashi offered you both as well." Todoroki commented.
"Indeed! It's a great opportunity for us all." Iida proclaimed. "Especailly since it gives us a chance to meet up once again."
"I know, right? It's been forever, man!" Kirishima exclaimed, which made the others chuckle. "I wonder if anyone else from U.A. is here."
"Oh, we saw Kacchan not too long ago, actually." Izuku explained.
"Oh, that I'm aware. We went to the Meet Up together, but I'm not sure where he is now."
"Well, he did say he was going to find you, Todoroki." He added.
"He did find me, but then he left, so..." Todoroki explained. Izuku tried to look past the crowd of heroes in the room, going on his tippy toes to get a better look, but to no prevail.
"With the size of the room, and the amount of pro heroes here, Kacchan could honestly be anyway."
"Ah, don't worry. He'll find us." Kirishima said, giving a dismissive wave. "Got a good nose for it. Anyway, how has the hero business been treating you?"
"Pretty good, actually." Izuku answered, looking at Iida for agreement, to which he happily nodded in response. "Few ups and downs, but nothing out of the ordinary..."
"Wait a minute!" Izuku was interrupted by a sudden voice. They all turned around and saw Vulture, holding a full plate in his hands with a shocked expression.
"Oh, Vulture, there you are!" Izuku waved. "Guys, this is Kenji Yoshitaka, or Vulture. Vulture, these are my friends, Eijiro Kirishima and Shoto Todoroki." Kirishima waved at Vulture with a grin on his face, while Todoroki gave an acknowledge nod. Vulture slowly waved back, still carrying the same expression. He then shocked his head like he was in a trance and turned sharply towards Izuku.
"Deku? Are you telling... that you are friends... with Red Riot and Shoto?!" The expression turned to complete and utter disbelief towards Izuku.
"Uh... yes?"
"OK, you need to make a list of all the pro heroes that you went to U.A. with, because this is ridiculous!" All of them laughed at the comment.
"There you idiots are!" The laughter stopped as their heads turned to see Bakugo marching up towards him.
"Hey, Bakugo!" Kirishima exclaimed, waving towards him. "I knew you would find us."
"Of course I did!" Bakugo exclaimed. "You guys are way too loud, even in this packed area."
The boys continued to talk to each other and for Izuku, it felt so good to finally get the chance to talk to his friends personally, not just through text messages due to their demanding duties to society. A chance to work together like they did in U.A. It was also nice to see Vulture getting along, easily getting into conversations with them. Though he had been the kind of person who was easy to talk to.
As their chats continued, along with the Meet Up, Izuku looked around the room, contemplating whether to have a quick talk with some of the long-running pro heroes.
"I guess I could talk to Identi. " He thought. "Could be a chance to ask if..." The train of thought stopped when his eyes caught a young girl not far where he was standing.
She was in his age group, like the rest of his friends, with pink skin, short, pink hair and yellow horns on top. She was wearing a colourful, camouflage pattern bodysuit, along with a tan-coloured, sleeveless waistcoat.
"Ashido's here too?" A smile came upon Izuku's face, seeing another classmate from U.A. at the Meet Up. She seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, with hands gestures and expressive facial features to go with it. Though it was hard to see who she was talking to as some pro heroes were blocking his viewpoint. He moved away from the group slightly, beginning to raise his hand in an attempt to call her.
"Hey, A...!" The words became stuck as he froze. He slowly lowered his hand. His eyes were wide, full of disbelief.
The pro heroes blocking his view moved out of the way, and with his own eyes, he saw who Ashido was talking to.
Her pink and black bodysuit and knee-high boots, contributing to her hero costume. Her brown hair, long and tied up behind her. Her smile and affectious laugh as she chatted with Ashido.
He thought he was dreaming. That it couldn't be real. But it was real.
It was Uraraka that Ashido was talking to. Uraraka got offered to help with the Hero Festival. Uraraka was here. In the same place as Izuku.
Suddenly, his deep thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder, causing him to shriek. He quickly covered his mouth and turned his head around, sending a glare at Vulture, who was the culprit.
"Before you ask, I didn't attend to scare you." Vulture defended himself, seeing the death glare staring at him. After a while, Izuku turned back around, dropping his hand over his mouth. "Guess you were deep in thought." Izuku only hummed in response, his eyes turning back to her.
"What were you looking at?" Vulture leaned against Izuku's shoulder to see what he was looking.
"Oh, Pinky is here too. Let me guess, she was in your U.A. class as well." Izuku just nodded. "Actually, you know what? That's good, because I got a question to ask her."
"You do?" Izuku finally spoke.
"Yeah, I want to know what her horns are actually for."
He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "I... don't know myself."
"Really? Like it's not part of her quirk or...?" Vulture stopped midsentence as his eyes caught who she was talking. Izuku watched his eyes grew in realisation.
"Oh! Uravity's here too." He exclaimed. "No wonder you were staring." Izuku's face immediately turned red before turning to Vulture with embarrassment clear in his eyes.
"I... I told you, it's not like that!" He insisted. The same punched feeling in his heart returned, but he ignored it.
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Vulture smirked. "So, are you going to talk to her?"
Izuku's face turned even redder. "I can't just walk up to her!"
"Sure, you can." Vulture said like it was obvious. "Just go up to her and say, 'Hey, it's me Midoriya remember? Long time, no see, am I right?'"
The red in Izuku's face slowly died down as he rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes casting back at Uraraka, who was really engaged in her conversation. Seeing her smile took his mind back to that night two years ago. To her crying on the street before running. The last time he saw her.
He frowned, guilt swirling inside of him. "I... I can't..."
Suddenly, he felt a slap at the back of his head, causing him to yell, grabbing hold of the pain. He whipped his head around, coming face to face with Vulture, who had an annoyed look on his face.
"What was that for?" Izuku exclaimed.
"Last I checked, Deku wouldn't talk like that." Izuku's eyes grew with shock at the admission, slowly lowering his hand that covered where the slap occurred, but before he could speak, Vulture continued. "The pro hero Deku I know would never think anything was impossible. He would just go for it, in order to protect people. Even if it meant breaking his bones."
Izuku stared at his friend, as he spoke, taking in what was said, noting how serious he was about this. When he mentioned broken bones, it made him bring up his right arm and clenched his fist, once again feeling the slight difficulty of doing so. He then looked up, setting his eyes on Uraraka again, seeing her in the midst of laughing along with Ashido.
"Look, just talk to her." Vulture continued. "The worst that could happen is that she doesn't want to be your friend anymore. It's not like she's going to actually kill you or something."
Izuku was about to answer, but in that moment, a couple of loud claps was heard, echoing across the room. Turning around, he saw Seihashi standing in front of the room, about two meters from where he and his friends were standing.
"Hello, heroes! If you don't mind, I would like to take a moment to say a few words." He said, causing the entire room to become quiet.
"Oh right, he did mention about making a speech later." Izuku remembered, focusing to the front.
"First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming to the Meet Up. It's wonderful to see so many heroes in one room! For a chance for you all to meet new heroes, and hopefully some of your old friends."
The moment he said that, Izuku instinctively turned around, seeing Uraraka standing with her hands behind her back, listening carefully to what Seihashi was saying. He didn't turn his head back around, but continued to listen.
"As I have mentioned to all of you individually, this year's Hero Festival is poised to be the biggest and grandest one there is! But, unfortunately, that attraction can lead to possible villain attacks and with an increase of them throughout the years, they're bound to happen. That's why, for the first time, not only have I hired long running pro heroes that I have done for many years, I have also hired new and young heroes who have already made an impression within our hero society."
"There have been concerns about the choice I've made, but I know with your help, we will make this festival the best and safest one there is. It will be a festival never to be forgotten!" The round of applause were made across the room from his speech and Izuku finally turned his focus away from Uraraka.
"Now! I will be emailing all of you about your groups." Seihashi continued. "For the long running pro heroes, you know what I mean. For the rest, it will be explained in that email. Expect it in about two weeks. In the time being, you can continue hanging around or you are free to leave if the hero call awaits! Thank you!"
Another round of applause occurred. Seihashi walked away from the front and engaged in his own conversation as the voices in the room resumed.
"What a wonderful and passionate speech." Iida declared.
"I know, right?" Kirishima exclaimed.
"To him, he sounds like he loves his own voice." Bakugo grunted.
"Nothing new there." Todoroki remarked.
"What did you just say, Icyhot?!" Bakugo shouted, though he didn't attempt to attack him. His outburst though, did cause an amount of laughter to emerge from the group.
"Hope no fight is breaking out." Vulture laughed, giving Izuku a pat on the shoulder before joining the group again.
"Not at all! He hasn't fought anyone besides villains in ages." Kirishima insisted. Izuku couldn't help but snicker to himself at the whole ideal, reminding him of his time at U.A. He was about to go and join them, slightly turning his head when he noticed that Uraraka was not where she was anymore, along with Ashido.
Panic started to raise in him as he frantically looked around the room, hoping that she hadn't got far into the room that he can't see her anymore. After turning behind him, he found her. She was standing near the main door, giving Ashido a hug. They waved to each other, had a little laugh before she left the room.
The pro hero Deku I know would never think something was impossible. He would just go for it.
Vulture's words ranked through Izuku's mind as he stared at the door Uraraka just left. Before he had time to think, he was moving, walking quickly and heading towards the door, briefly hearing his friends calling out to him, but not replying. Once he left the room, he ran down the corridor, quickly deciding not to take the elevator and headed down the stairs. Reaching the ground floor, he handed his pass to the reception, before going through the rotating door, meeting the cool air outside. He looked around before finding her, walking down the path.
"What you are doing? What if she noticed you and decided not to talk you because of what you did?" His mind suddenly conjured up.
Look, just talk to her. The worst that could happen is that she doesn't want to be your friend anymore.
Once again, his body moved before he had the chance to think, slowly closing the gap between them. She didn't notice him, being focused on the phone in her hand.
"You hurt her, remember? That's why she's avoiding you like this. Just turn around. Turn around and..."
"Uraraka!"
She stopped, just in the process of putting her phone away. He stopped too, only being about a meter away from her. He held his breath, clenching his fists on his side. Eventually, she slowly turned around. Her eyes grew and her mouth slight opened. No words came out for a while, before one did.
"Deku...?"