With the villain attack at USJ, the entire school was given the next day off to recuperate. Given this opportunity, Sasaki Asuka and Bakugou Mitsuki wasted no time in checking in on the other. This time, the dinner get-together was being held in the Sasaki household.
"Uwaahh! Hearing about the villain invasion on the news really gave me a scare! Ayano isn't in the hero course, but still! I'm glad Little Katsuki was unharmed in the incident." Asuka exclaimed. The aforementioned boy clicked his tongue at being called 'Little Katsuki.'
Mitsuki just laughed, brushing it off. "Pfft. If Katsuki was dumb enough to get hurt by those chumps, then he deserves it." She smacked the back of her son's head. "Piss off, you old hag!" "Don't talk to your mother like that!" Asuka giggled. "I'm glad he's well enough to be so energetic. Come in! Come in! I prepared some of your favorites tonight!"
Once again, Katsuki and Ayano were seated across from each other, both quite detached from their parents' conversation. Ayano was eating her dinner in silence as usual, paying no mind to the things going on around her and barely registering the taste of her food. Her mind was focused on her inventions, knowing that Junk Master would have a new assignment for them soon.
Katsuki was distracted as well, being reminded of that time when the alarm sounded in U.A. during lunchtime. His eyes travelled to Ayano's chopsticks as they were raised to her lips, following their movements as she chewed her food.
He buried his mouth into the palm of his hand, stabbing his food and moving it about. He began mumbling obscenities, feeling his cheeks become slightly hotter. "Katsuki! Stop mumbling and playing with your food! Don't waste Asuka's efforts!" In response, he took a large portion of food and gave it an angry chomp.
After dinner, the parents continued to have their own separate conversations while the teens were left alone. Without giving him any warning, Ayano pulled on the back of Katsuki's collar. She began half-choking him and half-dragging him towards her room. "Hey! Get off me!"
When she finally let go, he realized that they were now in her bedroom. His eyes darted here and there. He hadn't been in her room since they were young, but it hadn't changed very much. If it weren't for all of the machines and tools lying about, her room would've been very empty – her bed and her desk being the only things left in it.
He thought that it was very much like her.
One invention, in particular, caught his eye. It was his confiscated grenade bracer. He walked up to it, examining it for any differences. The outside looked no different.
Ayano remained silent, having brought him to her room for this purpose. The blond slipped the bracer on, enjoying the familiar warmth and fit of it. Although the outside looked no different, the inside felt slightly off. He opened and closed his fist, stretching out the fabric and trying to decipher the difference.
"Ten minutes." He turned towards her, seeing her holding up all ten of her fingers. "It will only take ten minutes for the bracer to fill with your sweat. That is, of course, if you are moving and sweating as much as I think you will in battle."
"Previously, it took approximately fifteen minutes for the bracers to be ready. Five minutes may not seem like a lot, but it could mean the difference between a victory and a defeat." Katsuki smirked, liking the sound of this.
"I interwove more absorbent fabric into the gloves in order to decrease the wait time. It is also for more comfort, as sorbothane is quite stiff in its raw form. This allows your hands and fingers to have more range of movement without having to sacrifice any explosive power." Katsuki unleashed a flurry of explosions from his hand, as if to make sure she was telling the truth. Although, he didn't doubt her for even a second.
Ayano pulled up her projection wristband, recording his movements and saving them for future analysis. While the boy was focused on the improved support item, he missed the faint smile that grew on her face.
Asuka and Mitsuki spied on them from the doorway, completely unnoticed. They looked at each other and smiled, happy that their children were slowly returning to the way things once were.
The next day, classes resumed. The students were informed that, despite the villain invasion, the U.A. Sports Festival would continue as planned. After lunch, basic hero training for Class 1-A began. In preparation for the Sports Festival, the students had free reign to experiment and hone their skills on one of the many training grounds of U.A.
Upon reaching the training site, the students of Class 1-A noticed that Class 1-H was there as well. "Oh, Aizawa! Sorry about this, we were just getting ready to leave." Aizawa nodded to him in greeting. "It's fine. We just got here." He said, voice incredibly muffled by the bandages wrapping his face.
Junk Master turned back around towards one of the rocky cliffs. Some of the 1-A students were shocked when a large chunk of it was blasted off by nothing but air pressure. Luckily, none of the rocks were blasted in their direction.
"Hey, Sasaki! Watch where you're aiming that thing! Would you give it a rest already, Class 1-A is already here!" Junk Master scolded the girl. It was then that Bakugou and Midoriya both noticed that all of 1-H was already prepared to board the shuttle bus to return to the main campus.
Suddenly, the brown-haired girl appeared in their sight. She skid across the ground to reach her next target, barely sparing her teacher a glance. "One more time." She replied. "Wha—? Did you not hear me?! Class 1-A is already here, it's their time to use the training site."
The girl simply held up her wrist, showing him her watch. "They are early. Six minutes early to be exact. Besides, this trial will be quick." "That's not the point!" A pink-haired girl shot past him and into the air. "If Sasaki is still allowed to test her babies, then I will test mine too!" Using her wire arrows and hover soles, Mei propelled herself into the air, laughing maniacally all the way.
"Hatsume! I never gave her permission!" The man sighed in defeat and laid his head in his hand. "These kids…I swear…" He turned to Aizawa. "We have such a troublesome bunch this year." Midoriya chuckled, feeling amused yet sheepish.
Bakugou followed Ayano's slick and trained movements, smirking to himself. He was thinking about how he wanted to face her during the U.A. Sports Festival when an irritating voice interrupted his thoughts. "How annoying…"
A 1-H classmate turned to Yuudai. "I get that you want to leave, but you have to admit that Sasaki-san is pretty amazing. I wish I had her kind of drive and her brain!" Yuudai clicked his tongue. "I meant that she's annoying." The classmate chuckled. "Don't be salty because she's number one."
"I wouldn't be if she wasn't so stuck-up. She pretends like she isn't interested in any of us, just going at her own pace. She's also always going on about how 'there is always room for improvement.'" At her commonly said phrase, he raised the pitch of his voice to mockingly imitate hers. Bakugou grit his teeth and clenched his fists.
"It's ridiculous how she doesn't care for any of us. That nonchalant and aloof attitude pisses me off." His classmate turned around when he felt a murderous aura coming from behind him. Not only was Bakugou furious but so was Midoriya. He began frantically nudging for Yuudai to stop.
As the two boys were about to go up to him and give him a piece of their minds, a hand was laid on their shoulders. They turned around to see Ayano with her perfect poker face. Midoriya instantly backed down, but Bakugou wasn't about to go without a fight. She tightened her grip on his shoulder, causing him to click his tongue in annoyance.
Hearing the sound and finally noticing the people behind him, Yuudai turned to face Ayano. "If you have some sort of complaint with me, I would prefer it if you said so to my face. Although, I will let you know now that I do not give a damn." She took slow and steady steps toward him, meeting his glare head-on. "I did not come here to make friends. I came here to further my career."
"I do not need to make friends. I prefer to reach my goals with my own power rather than relying on others. In fact, I would prefer it to be that way. I intend to reach the top with my own strength, otherwise there would be no meaning. How others view me is of no concern of mine."
"I would not say that I deliberately bring down others to reach my goals. That would be underhanded. However, I am not necessarily above doing so either." She walked past him and towards the shuttle bus. Looking over her shoulder at Yuudai, Ayano sent him a look that gave him shivers.
"I will not hesitate to bring you down if you get in my way of reaching the top."
Many of the students gulped, even the students of 1-A. She was like a lioness, exerting such dominance and confidence. The ruthlessness in her statements shook them to their core.
The 1-A kids were reminded of how well her and Bakugou seemed to match. Despite how different their personalities were, they each held a ferociousness and charisma to be admired.
Ayano's statements resonated deeply within them, especially Bakugou.
The girl raised her wrist again, showing her watch. "It is now one minute past our departure time." She stated, successfully jolting many of the students out of their shock. Ayano continued towards the bus, never looking back.
Bakugou revealed a villain like grin, not even waiting for permission or instructions before blasting off into the training grounds. There was no time to waste.
He had to reach the top with her.
After classes ended, Ayano walked towards Class 1-A to walk home with Midoriya. Before even reaching halfway through the hallway, she was blocked by crowds and crowds of people surrounding the entrance. She heard Bakugou's voice among the front of the crowd. "Move aside, cannon fodder." The girl chuckled, not at all surprised by his response.
A boy with unruly purple hair began speaking derisively, going on about how kids not in the hero course could be transferred in based on their results of the Sports Festival. "Scoping out the competition? For a General Studies kid like me, this'll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals. Consider this a declaration of war."
"Ha. How ridiculous." Suddenly, the crowd parted ways to see the owner of that voice. "Ah. It appears I said that out loud." The purple-haired boy, Shinso, turned to Ayano with furrowed brows. Seeing that the crowd had parted into a pathway for her, Ayano walked forward. "I do not see the point in all of your nonsense." She stated, referring to the entire crowd.
"Knock them off their pedestals? Declaring war?" She scoffed. "If you wished to do that, you should have just waited and done so at the actual Sports Festival. Actions speak far more than words. In 'declaring war,' you have successfully eliminated your element of surprise. Logically speaking, not saying anything at all would have been better than what you are doing now. Therefore, this entire thing is ridiculous."
"She's making it worse!" The majority of 1-A thought.
Smirking, Bakugou pushed past Ayano and the rest of the crowd. Kirishima shouted after him. "Wait, you jerk! What're you doing to us!? Thanks to you, we've got a whole mob of haters now!" "I don't give a crap." "WHAAA—!?"
"I'm heading for the top. Why should I care?" Ayano's eyes widened a bit at the very familiar statement. It was much rougher, but it was essentially what she had said to Yuudai earlier.
The two of them had definitely changed from when they were young children, but they were both ultimately the same. The drive for success was still there and even stronger.
Ayano stared at Bakugou's retreating back, smiling to herself.
She had to reach the top with him.