It was hard for Ochako to fall asleep. Even with her body aching from another day at school, she couldn't sleep. It frustrated her at how her body and mind was not cooperating with her desire to rest. She had thought her sleepless nights from last week were over. That her thoughts about the Shie Hassaikai Raid were no more, especially the aftermath of it. But alas, it seemed that it was only dormant, receding in the back of her mind and ready to pounce back at even the smallest mention of it, which came today.
She had been doing extra lessons after school recently, catching up with work she missed when she was at her hero work study, along with Deku, Tsu and Kirishima. It was during the one today that Mr Aizawa informed them he would be taking them to attend Sir Nighteye's funeral. And with that, all the repressed feelings Ochako had within her returned.
Seeing her friends hurt. The fear and resentment she had on Nighteye's vision about Deku. How she felt she could have done more to save him in time. That if she did more, he would be still alive.
Those thoughts slowly built after the lesson and now it was at full force as she lied in bed within the darkness of her room. Despite this though, Ochako didn't feel like telling anyone.
She didn't want to burden anyone with her feelings, especially since she was sure they were dealing with their own struggles, so she didn't want to add to theirs. However, it did mean that she was now wide awake, despite knowing she needed to sleep for school. She couldn't just lie there and do nothing. Letting out a frustrated groan, she sat up from her bed, swinging her legs over the edge of it and sitting there for a bit, thinking about her options.
"Maybe if I have some tea..." Ochako thought, remembering a specific type of tea Momo had mentioned before, saying that it can help you get to sleep. "Well, I got nothing to lose."
Making up her mind, she got up, stretching a bit before putting on her slippers and heading out her room. Once she closed the door quietly behind her, she stealthily walked down the corridor, taking the stairs downstairs as she didn't want to wake up any of her classmates. She took each step as lightly as possible, leading to her taking longer than usual to reach the end of the staircase, but nonetheless, she made it to the common space.
The entire space was in complete darkness, with only the moonlight shining through the wide windows providing some light in the space. It allowed Ochako to make her way to the kitchen space with ease.
"Right, now where's that tea...?" She muttered to herself, opening the cupboards in search of it, before eventually coming across a boxed tea at the bottom cupboard.
"Ah, there it is!" She cheered quietly, picking it up and setting it on the counter.
"Hello?" A sudden voice was heard, breaking through the silence Ochako was in and causing her to jump in place, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hands to stop her shriek from being audible. Once she recovered from her scare, she removed her hands over her mouth and turned to look to the left side, seeing the living space at the end.
"I think it... came from there...?" She wasn't even sure if what she heard was real or not, but regardless, she walked slowly towards the area, passing the dinner tables before stopping just about a meter away, standing behind one of the sofas.
"It has to be a classmate, right?" She thought, looking around. There wasn't anything unusual that stuck out to her. Nevertheless, she cleared her throat a bit before speaking. "H-Hello?"
She heard shuffling, which made her stiff in her place. Then, she saw a head poking out from behind the sofa she stood behind, where she was met with familiar green eyes and hair.
"Oh, Deku!" Ochako let a sigh of relief, clenching her chest and she couldn't help a slight chuckle from escaping her.
"Uraraka! S-Sorry, did I scare you?" Deku asked, getting up from his seat, where she saw him wearing his usual sleepwear.
"Yeah, a little bit. I heard a voice, so I wondered who it was." She explained, dropping her hand from her chest.
"Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "I-I too heard a noise, so I called out. When no one answered, I thought it was just my imagination."
"Oh, I see." She chuckled, now a lot more relaxed knowing it was only her best friend. She then walked the rest of the way to the living space, finding a couple of notebooks and textbooks on the coffee table.
"What are you doing this late?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, umm... just doing some late-night homework." Deku answered, taking his seat again.
"Of course." She smiled. She always wondered how he could have so much energy to do these things. It really amazed her. But then, a thought came to mind. "Wait, how come you're doing it here instead of in your room?"
She saw him become stiff a bit before quickly relaxing and chuckling nervously. "Just... you know, just felt like it. A bit more space for me to work." He answered. Ochako could tell he was hiding something from her, but she didn't want to pry, so she instead gave a nod in response.
"What about you? How come you're down here?" Deku asked. She should have known he was going to ask the same question back, but it still threw her off, causing her to freeze up herself, only this time, she couldn't recover from it. Deku's eyes grew before waving his hands in front.
"S-Sorry! You don't have to tell me. I-It's just..."
"No, no! It's OK." She quickly assured him. Now she felt bad in making him worry like that, but then again, he was always like that. Which was why she didn't want to tell him the exact reason for her being here. She didn't want to worry him more than he already was. "I, umm... I couldn't sleep. M-Must be the adrenaline from today's session. So, I thought I could make some tea that Momo had to help me sleep."
"Oh. Is she OK with that?" Deku asked with concern.
Ochako couldn't help but laugh at his concern. "It's OK. She insisted that anyone could use it at any time."
"Oh, OK. That's good."
"I could make you some as well." The words slipped out her mouth before she had the chance to stop herself. It was only looking at his shocked expression that she realised what she'd said. Her checks turned a light red, causing her to turn her head slightly away from him, hoping that the moonlight was not casted over her that could expose her.
"I-If you want... I mean..." She said quietly, wondering if he heard her at all.
"S-Sure... thanks." With his answer, she nodded before quickly making her way back to the kitchen space.
"Gosh, I'm hopeless." She thought. She always found herself getting fluttered whenever she was near Deku, especially since she had a secret crush on him that she intended to keep to herself. But it won't help if she blushed over simply asking to make him a cup of tea.
Once her inner crisis eventually disappeared, Ochako began to prepare the tea, finding two cups, and placing tea bags and boiled water in them. Afterwards, she added milk and one teaspoon of sugar, before mixing the tea and removing the tea bags.
"Looks like those tea lessons from Momo were worthwhile." She smiled as she took the cups and headed back to the living space, finding Deku engaged in his schoolwork.
"There you go, Deku." She placed his cup onto the table near him.
"Oh, thank you, Uraraka." He looked up from his work, smiling in appreciation. She smiled back before making her way around the sofa, sitting on the other side of the same sofa as Deku, holding her cup at hand. She blew on it gently before taking a slip of it, sighing in delight as the sweet taste of the tea ran down and soothe her throat.
"Mmm! This is good!" Deku exclaimed, taking his own slip of it.
"I know, right? Momo sure knows her tea." Ochako chuckled, to which he joined in.
"So, what kind of schoolwork you're doing?" She asked, taking another sip afterwards.
"Oh, just working on some Maths homework, as well as reviewing the notes I made during the extra lesson today." He explained, putting his cup down on the table.
"Did you understand what Mr Aizawa was teaching today?" Ochako could already feel her brain tighten up from just thinking about the Maths lesson.
Deku nodded in response. "If you need help with it, I'm more than happy to help."
She smiled. "I would like that very much. Just not right now."
"Oh, o-of course." He chuckled nervously, to which she chuckled back. Then, the two fell into a comfortable silence, with only the sound of Deku's pen meeting the paper occupying the space. Ochako leaned back into the sofa, watching the steam from the cup. She would have loved this silence even more, if it wasn't for the fact that it allowed for her mind to divulged back to the Raid.
Before, all her thoughts and feelings fell silent while she was focused on making the tea. But now in the silence and the mention of Mr Aizawa's lessons had allowed for them to return with full force. She took another slip of her tea, hoping the tea will do the job in the long run before staring deeply in the distance, her thoughts circling around her head in laps with no sign of stopping.
"Why won't it go away? I don't want to think about it. I don't..."
"Uraraka?" She jumped in shook, quickly getting a tight hold of her cup before turning to face Deku, who had a concern look to him that caused her heart to somewhat go lopsided. "S-Sorry. Just... are you OK?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly said, looking back into her cup.
"Are you sure? You looked spaced out."
"Really? Didn't notice..." She muttered, taking a good drink from the cup to combat her thoughts on her own.
"You know, you can tell me if anything's wrong." Ochako bit her lower lip and her grip on her cup tightened. She hated having Deku worry about her, but it seemed like her not telling him her feelings was doing exactly that. She was so conflicted about what to do, not wanting to burden him with her problems. But his voice sounded so clear and confident as he could ever be. Like there was no room for argument in his mind. He always wanted to help, and she knew he was good at it, more so than helping himself at times.
"I guess... if it's just him..."
She let out a deep sigh. "I... I've been thinking about... the Shie Hassaikai Raid today. That's why I couldn't sleep." She confessed quietly before she had any second thoughts.
"Oh. I see." Deku simply answered.
"B-But I'm sure it's nothing." Ochako quickly backtracked. "I'm sure it will go away once I finish this tea." She drank it quickly to prove her point.
"You know, it's funny. That's the reason why I'm here too."
She stopped midway her drink, looking at him with surprise. "Really?"
He nodded before picking up his cup and looking down at it, displaying a sheepish look. "I thought... I-I could do some work to... keep my mind of it."
"So, that's what he was hiding."
"I guess... that makes two of us." She said quietly, showcasing a slight smile before taking another sip. Deku just hummed in response, becoming silent for a bit.
"It's just... I know I shouldn't blame myself for what happened, but I can't help but feel that I could have done more." Deku explained. "That if I was strong enough, then maybe Nighteye wouldn't have..."
"No, don't said that!" Ochako interrupted, not wanting to hear Deku blame himself for this. "You were strong. If anything, I should have been faster in getting him the help he needed."
"What? No, Uraraka. That's not true." He disagreed immediately. "You did everything you could."
She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it suddenly, looking slightly dumbfounded, before a light smile came on her face. Honestly, she found it surprisingly funny at how they both denied the other's claim in their contribution. Like they both were working on the same train of thought without knowing initially. "Then, I guess we both agree to disagree."
Deku looked at her confusingly, before he chuckled and taking a slip of the tea. "Yeah, I guess so. But you know, I don't think we should be so down about this. I... I'm sure Nighteye wouldn't like that."
"You think so?" Ochako asked curiously.
He nodded confidently. "I do. Before he... you know, he said that we should always keep smiling. That without joy and laughter, the world can't hope to have a bright future." Ochako became enamoured by those words and she could tell that Deku believed those words whole heartedly by the genuine smile on his face. That brought out her usual wide smile for the first time that night.
"Then... we should at least try to smile a bit at his funeral." She suggested. Deku looked at her surprised before he returned the smile. Even as that sight caused her stomach to flip at how adorable his smile always was, her own smile didn't falter.
"Yeah, we should. I think he would like that." He agreed. Ochako chuckled before taking her last slip, finishing her tea.
"Well, I think I should try and get some sleep." She said, getting up from her seat. "Are you going to do the same?"
"Maybe later. I, umm... I'm pretty into my work at the moment..." He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of the neck.
Ochako laughed. "Why am I not surprised?" Once she calmed down, she smiled. "Well, then. Goodnight, Deku."
He smiled back. "Goodnight, Uraraka." And with that, she headed back to the kitchen space, washed her cup before heading upstairs, back into her dorm room. She, in fact, was able to fall asleep afterwards. Whether it was the tea doing its job or having her talk with Deku and him understanding and helping her through her thoughts, she wasn't sure.
She would like to think that it was the latter.