Chapter Nine

                                    

                                          
Chapter Nine: Why Do You Want To Become A Hero?

Since the attack, the school was temporarily closed, the teachers wanted the students to recover from the event and take it easy for two days. 
Ever since she came back, her parents have been as worried as ever. Constantly checking on her, always asking if she was okay or not and walking on glass at the notion Chikako was still shaken from what happened at USJ. While it’s true that after Chikako woke up, the events had left her a little rattled, it wasn’t too traumatic. She had tried to explain this to her parents, but it fell on mostly deaf ears. Honestly Chikako sometimes thought they were affected by the attack more than their daughter who witnessed it.
“I’m telling you, they won’t leave me alone,” Chikako complained to Ochako through the phone. “They even take turns watching over me while I sleep ‘cause they’re afraid of nightmares.”
Over at her house, Ochako smiled sympathetically. Her parents weren’t nearly as bad as her cousin’s. While hers were obviously worried, they didn’t dote on her like her relatives.
“They’re just worried, you know how they are,” she chuckled, which turned to nervousness when Chikako didn’t laugh back. She can envision the scowl on her face. “Just tell them how you feel and maybe they’ll back off.”
“Maybe. Can’t wait to be back at school.”
“Want me to come over? I can provide emotional support.”
“Yes, please,” Chikako smiled.
Fortunately, Ochako’s advice did the trick. Somewhat. They did back down after Chikako explained to them how she felt about the doting thing, but they didn’t fully go back to treating her like normal. Luckily the break only lasted for two days and before she knew it, Chikako was sitting with her class.
“Hey, did you watch the news last night?” Hagakure asked. 
When Ojiro nodded, she continued. 
“Did you see how everyone in class was on-screen for a second?” she said before sighing. “I didn’t stand out at all…” 
“That’s true,” came Shoji’s blunt reply.
“It’s hard to stand out looking like that, huh?” Ojiro pointed out, referring to the invisible girl’s lack of costume and body. 
“But man, all the channel’s made a big deal about it,” Kaminari replied, leaning against his chair.
Jirou, who was twirling her ear jacks, said, “Can you blame them? The hero course that keeps pumping out pro-heroes was attacked.” 
“Who knows what would have happened if the teachers hadn’t come when they did.” Sero said.
Flashes to Shigaraki’s hand and how it was an inch away from Izuku’s face came to her mind and Chikako forced herself to refrain from finishing the image if the teachers hadn't come at the nick of time. That image was something she couldn’t seem to get rid off. That and the image of herself sinking in the water. It terrified her that a classmate of hers (whether she disliked him or not) was seconds away from crumbling to dust always sent unpleasant shivers all through her body. Because of that, she finds herself wandering towards Midoriya, as if checking if he was okay. When that happens, she makes sure to snap her eyes back to other places aside from him. 
“Stop that, Sero!” Chikako jumped at Mineta’s sudden yell. “Just thinking about it’s making me wet myself-”
“Shut up! Be quiet, scum!” Bakugo’s booming voice was just the trick to silence him.