Before I start, to all manga readers: CHAPTER 290 GOT MY SOOOOOOO HYPED. Ok, I'm done.
Honestly, Monday couldn't couldn't have come sooner. Ashley was taken away by the commission to complete some jobs and wasn't back to UA until Sunday night. As she walked the path back to her home followed by two guards she noticed a few of her classmates outside of the dorms.
"Hey Ashley!" she heard Mina called out to her, running towards her followed by Midoriya, Uraraka, Jirou and Kaminari.
"Hey!" she called back to her pink friend smiling. As the group of student reached her she turned back to the guards behind her. "It's fine, you can go now." she told them, to which they seemed hesitant. "It's fine, I'm not alone." she said, this time getting a reaction and they walked away leaving her with her friends. Ashley sighed in relief, "I've been followed around for the last week. I honestly can't do this for much longer." she complained, sounding tired.
"Are going to be in class tomorrow?" Uraraka asked the girl, who responded by shaking her head regrettably.
"That's why I wanted to come by tonight, to see you all... and talk to you." Ashley revealed. The five teenagers looked at each other wondering what she wanted to talk to them about. They made their way to the common room so she could speak to all the class. As she stood in front of the large group of teens she was nervous about what she was about to do, but she knew it was for the best. After noticing that both her brother and Todoroki weren't around she took a deep breathe and began.
"Most of you saw me use an aspect of my quirk the other day. I think it's only fair I explain to you what it is exactly." she started and they all were hooked. "My quirk has been given the name 'body, mind and soul', there are three separate aspects to it." She watched her classmates react to her finally revealing information about her quirk for the first time in two weeks. "'Body' is what some of you watched in action. I can move anything alive, almost like telekinesis but only with living things." Midoriya and the others who had seen her floor the villains understood exactly what she meant. "'Mind' is a little tricky. If I wanted to could invade everyone's minds and listen in to thoughts and even speak to you telepathically, but I wear this to limit the intrusion as it can leak and cause issues." she explained, pointing at the hearing aid like device in her ear. Some of the students started to feel uncomfortable knowing that the privacy of their own minds could be compromised. "Don't worry though, I haven't gone into anyone's minds. I can control it pretty well." she reassured them. "Then there's 'soul'..." she began but hesitated to continue as if she feared talking about it. "...I don't tend to use it a lot, I'm not allowed to anyway..." she continued. Kirishima and Mina shared looks of concern for their friend. "...I can use, transfer, take away and manipulate emotions."
she told them.
They knew her quirk was going to be something insane for her to be given a hero license so young. The room was mixed with different thoughts and feelings about what they had been told. Then Midoriya remembered something, "But wait..." he started, catching everyone's attention, "...before you used your quirk the other day..." he went on, Ashley knew exactly what he was going to ask, "...you asked sensei to 'unlock' you?" he recalled in a questioning manor. Ashley stared back at the freckled boy and smiled, she knew this was going to come out soon.
"You see, my quirk is great, I can do so much with it and I can help a lot of people. But... there are... issues... that can arise..." she said cautiously, not wanting to say the wrong thing and scared her entire class. "So as a preventative measure, along with my limiter, there is almost like a mental lock on my quirk. I can still activate it but it might cause a lot more issues than it's worse. There are few people that have access to the key like my dad and a few of the pro heroes I work with." she explained. It made sense to the students, she was powerful; and even with training there could always be incidents. None of the students questioned her further. They could see how it affected her when she spoke about it. There was so much more they wanted to know, like why their teacher had adopted her, why she left her family to begin with and why her brother hated her so much; but that would be for another time.
As she exited the building to make her way home she leaned on the door once she had closed it. She thought of the last few days and how she was so busy she hadn't had the time to talk to Todoroki, which should have happened sooner rather than later. I wonder where he is. As she asked herself she heard the sound of footsteps coming up in front of her. Half expecting to lock eyes with the half and half boy she looked up only to connect with eyes just as red as hers. Katsuki. He stood in front of her with both hands in his pockets, keeping the same old demeanour as always but his face for once remained almost calm.
"Hey..." he muttered out. He was actually talking to her normally, no attacks or sharp comments on her abilities.
"Hey..." she said back still surprised. They shared a couple of uncomfortable looks, last time they saw each other she had snapped at him for commenting Aizawa being hospitalised. After a few long awkward seconds Ashley decided to take her leave as the overnight security would arrive at her house soon. As she passed her brother on the way down she glanced over at him and gave him a nod, "See ya tomorrow." she whispered to him not expecting a response she walked on.
"Look I'm sorry..." she heard the faint voice of her brother say, which shocked her to her core. She whipped round to see he hadn't turned to face her. He sighed, finding it hard to express how he felt,"It's difficult... having you here... knowing I'm not the best in my class. Not just to you but that Deku idiot and icy-hot are trying to give me a run for my money..." she never in a million years imagined she'd ever hear hime admit anything like this. She remained in silence, knowing he had more to say and still refused to face her. "...I can't forget what happened, but I sure as hell don't hate you as much as you think so you can quit mopping ar-" he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder which made him turn around in a flash. He was met by his sister holding her hand out to him waiting for a handshake. He took a couple glances between her face and her hand, not understanding what was happening.
"Truce? For now at least." she said, smiling at him softly.
Bakugo looked at his sister's hand but couldn't bring himself to shake it. "Look, I said I was sorry for they way I spoke to you but..." he started telling her, Ashley's eyes glistening as she held back tears knowing exactly what he was going to say. "...you're still a murderer in my eyes." he muttered, looking at the ground unable to look directly at her anymore.
Ashley's heart sank so low she could barely feel anything. Without another word, the boy turned on his heels and walked away and into the dorm building leaving Ashley alone in the pale darkness. Her eyes staring into nothing as she fought the complete whole in her heart, she knew that he hadn't gotten over it even after ten years. She was too caught up in her numb state to sense the person walking up behind her until he spoke out.
"Hey..." she heard the familiar voice almost whisper over to her, making her turn around in surprise. As their eyes locked his differently coloured ones widened at the sight of her puffy red ones burst with the need to expel the tears she had held back.
"Hey..." she said back dabbing and rubbing her eyes and letting out a small sniff to try and hide her state from him. "Sorry... I-I-" she started unable to process everything and talk about it at the same time.
"It's ok, that looked intense." he commented.
So he's been here the whole time.
Ashley nodded slowly and glanced back at the dorm building before turning back to Todoroki. "Yeah well, you know my brother." she said as she crossed her arms on her chest feeling vulnerable.
Todoroki nodded back, he knew she didn't seem to want to talk about it but he sensed that she needed to get something off her chest. "I do..." he said before looking around himself to see the bench a few feet away. He raised his arm trying to signal to her to take a seat, "I know you might not want to talk about it, but if you did..." he started as she took his invitation to sit down together. He sat laying back on the bench as Ashley sat with her elbows on her knees as she leaned down. She looked completely lost and struggling with these emotions. She let out a sigh, knowing she would feel better if she did let some of it out.
"It's just... I'm not used to let it all out." she started, Todoroki looked over to her watching her fight with her own mind. "I have been trained for all sorts of situations but I never actually thought I would still be viewed the way my brother views me..." she went on, still trying to fight back tears.
"How does he view you?" Todoroki asked, not expecting much information back as he knew most of her life was dealt with in hushed tones.
"I... That's for another time but let's just say there were pretty serious reasons I was put in Eraserhead's care." she said, wanting to tell him everything but holding back due to the horrible nature of the story. He understood, there are many things in his life he wouldn't tell anyone as well. He placed a hand on her leg gently in a means to comfort her, he wasn't good at this sort of thing but he wanted to try. She turned her head from looking at the floor to meet his gaze, she smile at him softly.
This is nice.
In that moment everything washed away just long enough for Ashley to feel the weight of her life lift off her shoulders. In a moment of madness and without thinking too much she leaned in to catch his lips with hers. If she was in her right mind she wouldn't have been so careless, but this is what she needed. Him. Todoroki placed his right hand on her face, cupping the side of her cheek. As they deepened their kiss Ashley placed one arm around his waist and held on tight. They were completely lost with each other. Not too long into the passionate kiss Ashley realised her state of mind wasn't the best for this sort of situation so she decided to pull away, just slightly. They were still very close to each other, his hand still in her hair, gazing into the other's eyes. The want was there, it was strong, neither of them wanted it to end but they both understood the moment.
"I know we need to talk..." she whispered, still being held by him. "...but maybe we do it when it's less complicated and I'm not a weeping mess? She presented to him while laughing into her words softly. He nodded back at her and they remained frozen for a while longer. They both realised that if they staying like that much longer somebody could see them so almost on cue they moved away at the same time trying to compose themselves.
"You should probably go inside, curfew is in a few minutes." Ashley told him, trying to make the whole situation less awkward but failing miserably. He once again nodded, he was a man of few words, and stood up to go back to the dorm. Before he went inside he turned back at the girl on the bench.
"You going to be alright?" he asked her.
Ashley nodded back, "Y-yeah, my nighttime security is going to be here any minute." she told him. After sharing one more longing look he went inside, leaving her alone once again. She grunted to herself thinking she was being really dumb about everything. "What now, Ash?" she asked herself, whispering.
"Well good evening, Princess!" she knew that voice, she whipped her head round to watch as a pair of fire red wings lowered the man in front of her onto the ground. He smiled with confidence which brought so much relief to her.
"Hawks!" she called out standing up and running towards him.
"I'm surprised you didn't know I was coming, you usually have me located miles awa-" the hawk-like man commented but was cut off by the girl wrapping her arms around him and sinking her face into his chest. "Woah, you ok there, princess?" he asked her joking but with underlining concern for her.
Ashley nodded as she let go of him and sighed, "It's been a long week." she told him to which he smiled back.
"Well, good thing I'm here now hey?" he said roughing her hair playfully to which she laughed as she tried to get out from under his hand. "Come on, there's a surprise waiting for you at home." he told her pointing behind him with him thumb, and they made their way towards her house.
Through the dorm windows a group of the 1-A students had just witnessed her interaction with the number 3 hero and were in complete shock.
"No way! She's friends with Hawks?!" Kaminari shouted out as him, Jirou, Sero, Uraraka and Midoriya watched the two walk away. In the kitchen area Todoroki was glad they only looked outside once he'd walked in. He sipped his glass of water while he wondered what her relationship with Hawks was, she had run up to him and hugged him. Is he the complication she had just mentioned?
As Ashley opened her front door she noticed the lights inside were on. Once the door was open she saw her adoptive father standing in the living room, covered in bandages.
"Dad!" she said with excitement, she didn't even give herself a moment to think when she ran over to him and threw arms around him. "I'm so glad you're back." she said into his chest and he held her back. "I'm so sorry..." she added, holding him tighter.
"Don't be, you did what you had to." he reassured her as she let him go.
Ashley looked back at the man in the doorway as he took a step back. "I'll leave you guys to catch up, I'll be outside on watch until early morning if you need anything." he told them.
"Thank you, Hawks." Aizawa said and giving him a nod; Ashley simply smiled back at him before he closed the door. They spent most of the night discussing what had happened both at USJ and what was said at the meeting. At midnight Ashley decided to turn in as she did have training early in the morning. Soon after she had gone upstairs, Aizawa went around the house turning the lights out and stopped at Ashley's door to check in on her. He cracked the door open just enough to e=see her fast asleep in her bed. He sighed, "You really can't catch a break, can you?" he asked himself, aimed at the sleeping girl. With that he closed her door and headed to bed himself; tomorrow was going to be a busy day, the beginning of preparations for the sports festival.