"Absolutely not," Kurage Makoto said, his arms crossed over his chest. Kurage Awako stared up at her father, her mouth opened wide.
"Why not!? The doctor said I was in perfect hea-"
"Absolutely not!" he repeated with a forceful tone this time, leaning down and looking his daughter in the eyes.
"You still have a limp, Awako. You still have medicine you have to take to make sure there isn't any poison in your system!" he said, his voice becoming louder. He waved his hand as he said "What kind of father would I be if I let my daughter who was just attacked by a high-class villain participate in an event as big as the U.A. sports festival!?"
Awako could only gawk at him before clamping her mouth shut and wiping her eyes. A week ago she had been attacked in a standard rescue training exercise. The villain just so happened to be her brother, the high-class hero Death Sting, also known as Kurage Naota. She had sustained many injuries during the fight, including copious amounts of jellyfish poison pumped into her system. For now she walked with a slight limp and still had trouble moving for long periods of time without becoming overwhelmed and exhausted.
"I'm fine, Papa! I swear!" she said, waving her hands.
"No, Awako and that's final!" he said, turning his back to her. She couldn't stop frustrated tears from welling in her eyes. This was unfair. How was she going to prove herself to anyone if she couldn't even participate in the Sports Festival?
"Besides," he said, stirring the pot of stew he had prepared for the both of them, "You would only have a week to prepare for the festival. That's not enough time."
Awako slumped into the kitchen table, dropping her head onto its surface with a 'thud' before mumbling something inaudible.
"I just want to find what's important," it sounded like.
Makoto turned his head to look at his daughter for a long moment, pondering if he maybe did spend too much time spoiling her and sighed.
"Awako…" he began, taking the spoon from the pot and tapping it against the edge. "Just because you can't participate doesn't mean you can't go and support your friends. I'll buy a ticket and try to get the day off so we can go together and cheer on your friends, okay?"
She brought her head up, looking at nothing as she mumbled a soft "Fine…"
"He's right, you know."
"I thought you'd be on my side! You're both doing it now!"
"Doing what?" Bakugou Katsuki asked as he paused mid-punch.
"Coddling me!" Awako said, her arms flailing slightly. The notebook she had in her lap slid off and her pencil seemed to disappear into space.
"We're not coddling you," he said, aiming another punch at a tree. "And get your fucking homework done. I've been done for over an hour now, Wanko."
Awako pouted at the name before patting around the tree in search of her pencil.
"This wouldn't be an issue if you let me copy your homework," she mumbled under her breath.
This was their routine for the past few days now. Every day after dinner she would meet up with her childhood friend, Bakugou Katsuki and they would go down by the river near their neighbourhood and do homework. This normally consisted of Awako prattling on about the day and Katsuki training for the Sports Festival.
After Awako successfully located her pencil she turned to Katsuki, saying "I still want to enter. It's a chance to get scouted by someone awesome!"
He paused to walk over to her, taking the water bottle she handed to him and drink from it. Things had been pretty peaceful between the two of them since the villain incident. Yet to say things were the same would be a lie. She was finally able to stand next to him as an equal and speak her mind freely.
"You could always do what you want. You do it anyway," he said, not looking at her. She replied to the comment by raising her leg and kicking him in the thigh.
"What the fuck was that for!?" he snipped.
Well, it was almost peaceful.
"Ah, this is so boring!" she said, closing her notebook and tossing it aside. She stretched her arms above her head and watched as Katsuki sat next to her, taking her notebook to look over her answers.
"Kacchan," she said, tapping her feet together, "Are you nervous?"
"About what?" he asked, flipping a page.
"About the Sports Festival. You made a pretty big claim that one day after school."
"What's going on!?" Uraraka exclaimed as she peered out of the classroom. A crowd of students had gathered infront of the door, peeking inside. Awako had just finished gathering her things and went to join Katsuki's side as a student she didn't really know, Mineta, said "There's no way out! What are they here for?"
"Scoping out the competition. Duh, Small Fry. It's cuz we're the kids who survived the villain attack. Makes sense they'd want to scope out the competition."
Awako nodded slightly in agreement before waving goodbye to Tsuyu. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he added "No point though. Move aside, Cannon Fodder."
"Kacchan!" she exclaimed as she tugged his sleeve.
"Can we please not resort to calling those we don't even know Cannon Fodder!" Iida exclaimed.
"It's true we came to have a look but you sure are modest," Awako heard a voice say from the crowd. This student was tall, with bags under his eyes. He had messy purple hair that stuck out.
"Are all the kids in the hero course like this one?" he asked, his gaze on Katsuki. Awako moved slightly behind him, peeking out nervously. This guy seemed like bad news.
He moved his gaze from Katsuki to her, staring at her for a moment before Katsuki took a step forward, baring his teeth as he said "Huh!?"
"Gotta say, I'm a little disillusioned if this is all that you're offering. Those of us who didn't make it into the hero course are stuck in general studies and the other tracks. There are quite a few of us, did you know that?"
Awako eyed him cautiously as she stepped out from behind Katsuki, balling her hands into fists. From what he was saying there was a chance that General Studies students could transfer to the Hero course if they did well enough in the Sports Festival.
"Consider this a declaration of war," he said. Awako bristled slightly. Before she knew it Katsuki had gripped onto her sleeve, dragging her along with him through the crowd of people.
"Thanks to you we have a whole mob of haters!" Eijirou said, waving his hands.
"I don't give a shit," Katsuki growled, looking back at him. "I'm headed for the top. Why should I care?"
"It's the truth," he said, closing the notebook and handing it back to her. "I am headed for the top. No one's gonna get in my way."
She looked up at him as he took another drink from his water. She felt a heat spread over her cheeks and she looked away. He was so full of himself sometimes.
"What about me? If I do enter the Sports Festival we might have to fight," she said finally. It was a thought that had been on her mind for a long time and she just now had the courage to say something.
"Like you could beat me," he said with a smirk and a snort. She huffed and punched his shoulder before putting her things back into her bag.
"It's getting late," Katsuki said as they watched the sun set.
"Yeah," she said, tapping her feet together again. She didn't want to leave but she had to. At least he would walk her home.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Well...there's not much you can do," Tsuyu replied.
Awako rolled over, holding her phone close to her ear.
"It just sucks. I can totally fight. I don't understand why he's getting so protective! Well...I can...but that's not the point!"
She heard Tsuyu croak out a laugh before saying "Bakugou-san might get lonely if you aren't there."
Awako felt a heat in her face and she fanned herself slightly, looking to the side as she said "Kacchan will be fine!"
Tsuyu let out another laugh and Awako couldn't help but join in.
"Besides, there's no way Kacchan feels like that for me. Kacchan likes fighting, not people."
"I think you like Bakugou-san more than you're letting on," Tsuyu said. Awako felt like she was on fire now.
"I-It's not like that!" she said, patting her Shiba Inu plush he had given her when she was in the hospital. She hugged it close to her chest as she said "Not like that at all."
"If you say so," Tsuyu said. "I have to go put my brother and sister to bed. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." she said before hanging up the phone. She buried her face into her plush and let out a tiny sigh. She didn't have feelings for Katsuki.
Did she?