A short-haired brunette young woman came rushing toward them, her panicked expression betraying her desperation—!
"Huh...?!"
"Hmm?"
"E-Excuse me—!"
But her warning came too late.
Just a few feet away from them—
"—! Uwah—!?"
—her foot caught the edge of the pavement, breaking her balance in an instant—she tripped!
Her arms flailed, eyes wide with alarm as her body lurched forward, heading straight for the ground—!
But before she could fall completely—
Izuku had reacted quickly.
In a swift motion, he stepped forward and caught her just in time—!
His hands wrapped around her shoulders and waist, halting her fall mid-air and saving her from slamming face-first into the pavement.
"...!"
And the brunette girl froze as she realized her fortunate rescue, her eyes widened in shock.
Her face now hovered close to his. Their eyes locked... and her breath caught in her throat.
For the brunette girl, it was as if time had slowed as she gazed upon the eyes filled with concern for her...
The sound of the crowd faded, replaced by the fast thumping of her heart.
And slowly... a faint rosy red bloomed across her cheeks.
Izuku, however, broke the silence between them.
"Hey? You okay?" he asked, still holding onto her.
But just as she opened her mouth to respond—
"—Eh...?"
Both of them blinked.
Their feet were no longer touching the ground.
"What the...?" Izuku muttered, actually bewildered. "W-we're... floating?"
"A-Ah...!" the brunette girl gasped, quickly pulling her hands away. "S-sorry—! My Quirk must've—!"
As soon as she let go, gravity returned, and they gently touched back down.
"Well, that was interesting," Izuku said with a light chuckle, a bit surprised but also amused as well, before returning his attention back to the brunette girl still in his hold. "You okay, miss?"
"...h-huh?"
The brunette girl blinked, finally broken from her short moment of awe, but upon further realization... her face became redder than before.
A handsome young man was holding onto her protectively, a face filled with concern for her well-being—a rather orthodox meet-cute for the young brunette woman that had not much experience in interacting with boys her age, let alone romance.
"What's wrong?"
However, she didn't answer his question, too stunned to speak as she continued staring at Izuku's worried expression, face red as a tomato and eyes still wide with disbelief.
"W-wha...? I... I, u-uhm..."
Her lips parted, stuttering silently as she tried to collect her scattered thoughts.
On the other hand, Izuku simply tilted his head, confused by her sudden speechlessness.
Meanwhile...
"...!!"
Katsuki's jaw slackened in shock, her eyes darting between the girl's flustered expression and Izuku's dumbfounded one.
And then... her mind finally clicked.
"H-Hey!! You two are way too close—!!"
Her voice cracked out like a whip, snapping the tension in the air as both Izuku and the strange brunette girl's heads snapped to the somewhat pissed-off Katsuki.
"Eh?"
"H-huh—?!"
Izuku blinked, still confused. The brunette girl herself was also startled in place.
Katsuki marched forward with a scowl, jabbing a finger toward them both—in particular, to Izuku.
"O-oi! D-Deku, enough already!" Katsuki snapped, her voice rising. "Don't go around flirting with some random girl, idiot!"
"F-f-flirting—?!?"
"What...? But I was just catching her?"
The brunette girl flushed even harder, flustered by what Katsuki had suggested, while Izuku was left blinking dumbly, genuinely confused. Katsuki, though, had already turned her glare to the flustered brunette woman.
"And you! Watch where you're going, will ya?!"
"H-hwuh?" The brunette girl flinched, still somewhat shaken, but then quickly realized. "S-sorry...! I didn't mean to, I swear...!"
"Whoa there~! Careful now."
The flustered brunette girl quickly stepped back from Izuku's arms, finally able to stand on her own. However, Katsuki was still somewhat glaring at the poor girl, making the latter shrink a little by the sheer pressure of Katsuki's presence.
"Are you sure you're okay, miss?" Izuku asked again, concerned for her well-being. "You're not forcing yourself, right?"
"Y-yes...! I'm fine! T-thank you... B-but also—!" She quickly bowed her head low in apology. "I-I'm sorry for suddenly bumping into you!"
"Ahaha~, no skin off my back~," he assured her casually. But, a glint of interest sparked within his eyes for the nervous young woman, "Hmm... by the way, just before: that Quirk—"
"Deku, enough already!" Katsuki snapped with a scowl, before grabbing him by the arm. "Orientation's about to start—let's go!"
"Eh? But isn't it like in 5 minutes or so—"
"No more delays! We need to hurry—NOW!"
Katsuki began to drag Izuku further into the campus, leaving no room for further argument. Thus, with no way of resisting, he just resigned himself to his childhood friend's relentless pace.
But... he managed to look back toward the bewildered brunette young woman they were leaving behind and waved with a friendly smile.
"See you later~."
And just like that, he was dragged off by Katsuki.
The brunette girl stood there for a moment, quite overwhelmed by the short yet strangely impactful interaction with the friendly green-haired boy and his female companion as she stared at their backs weaving into the crowd—until she blinked.
"—Ah!"
Her eyes widened.
"I-I'm also going to the orientation—!"
Panicking again, she quickly rushed after the two, trying her best to keep up without tripping again!
"W-wait! I'm coming too...!"
<<< AUTHOR NOTE >>>
Hey, long time no see.
Things got heated on my part... and now I'm now a small business owner. LMAO.
Guest life's just that way, huh.
Well, I'll see if I can now continue writing this fanfiction of mine on the regular, but don't get your hopes up 'cause I might disappear like a phantom in any given moment.
Oh, and if you're wondering what would happen to my original web novel series? Yeah, that's just dead. It's not profitable for me to continue anymore, and I've ran out of fantasy battery on writing it too, so I really can't write anymore of that.
Sorry for the fans of that series, but it's really the reality of this web novel career: not worth it unless you either struck gold or able to capitalize the market. I still need to pay my bills and help support my parents and all.
I still gonna write stuff like this fanfic out of purely for fun and all rather than monetization, so... again, sorry.