The waves rolled in and out with soothing constancy, but Ochako Uraraka barely noticed as she sat beneath the shade of a lonely palm tree. Her hands fidgeted with the edge of her sundress, her eyes fixed on the horizon, yet seeing nothing but the echo of his words. Deku had rejected her—gently, as he always was, but the weight of it pressed on her chest like a stone. The sounds of laughter and joy on the beach only seemed to amplify the ache in her heart, a stark contrast to the storm of emotions she struggled to contain.