Late Sunday morning.
It was only a few hours before noon when she received a well-timed phone call.
"Niwa, you gotta save me," Kirishima's voice whined pathetically through her cell phone.
"Kirishima, what the hell are you talking about?" Niwa asked, her voice full of amusement and a small smile spread across her lips. She already had an idea of why her redheaded friend was calling her like some victim in need of a hero.
"It's Bakugou!" Yup, figures. "He's like some demon spawn, smacking me around with textbooks! He's just gone to the bathroom, so I called you. You gotta help me out!"
"Where are you guys?" Niwa asked curiously, breaking apart the stick of an ice block with her teeth one fiber at a time.
"Some café by the train station. Bakugou refused to study at his place, and I wanted to get out of my house."
Niwa considered the distance first, "You guys can come over to mine, if you want."
"Eh!? Really?" Kirishima yelled in his usually loud voice.
"Sure, if you can convince-"
"Oi! Shitty hair!" Niwa could hear the angry voice coming from the background of Kirishima's phone.
"Crap, send me your address, gotta go!"
Beep… Beep... Beep…
Niwa pulled her phone away from her ear, quickly messaged her address to the distressed boy, and placed the device back on the engawa of her home.
"Done?" Masuru asked stoically. Her second brother stood in his usual stance whenever he was patiently waiting around. Arms folded across his chest and staring blankly at the sky, as difficult to read as always.
"Yeah," Niwa stood and hopped onto the grass where her brother stood.
"Friends of yours?" Fukushia, her eldest brother, asked.
Niwa glanced over her shoulder. Fukushia was lounged across the engawa on his side, ice-block only half-finished and his long magenta hair pooled all over the wooden platform he lay on. Both of her brothers were missing their shirts and Niwa was damn near joining them, it was way too freaken hot. But she was a girl. So, suffer she would.
"They're coming over to study for finals."
Fukushia grinned at the woman who approached from the house with four tall glasses of ice water all balanced on a trey. "Hear that, Hanami? You finally get some Japanese guests."
Hanami had officially moved in and Niwa couldn't have been more thrilled. Although it was weird to see Masuru acting all lovey-sappy-ick with someone.
"That does sound lovely." Hanami smiled sweetly, "I'll have to prepare some snacks then."
"Thanks, Sis."
Niwa loved calling Hanami her sister, just seeing the bright red flush across the woman's face was enough to thoroughly amuse the girl, something Fukushia eagerly jumped on from time to time.
"Break's over." Masuru declared, turning away and leading Niwa further away from the house to the patch of land they used to beat her into the dirt – the training pit, as Niwa had lovingly named it.
"Yes sir."
"Another set, first. Then sparring."
"Right."
Niwa began her usual training set. One hundred hand-stand push-ups, two hundred squats, three laps around their little farm, and fifty full strength punches into the air. She was already dripping with sweat before she had begun but now her creamy white shirt all but clung against her back. Niwa was glad she was wearing sports shorts and a sports bra underneath what should be a loose T-shirt.
The moment she finished the final shadow punch of her set, Niwa launched at her short-haired brother who stood analyzing her movements deftly.
She threw out a punch toward her brother's torso. Masuru easily caught her hand and threw it off to the side. Niwa used that momentum, jumped, and spun until her left leg could easily be slammed against her brother's head. Masuru stepped back to dodge, but not quick enough as her heel slammed against the man's inner right forearm.
There was no reaction on her big brother's face. Probably didn't even bruise him, Niwa frowned at the thought while sending her left leg up. The kick she had aimed for her tall brother's chin was also easily dodged with a step to her right. Niwa noticed immediately that her right side was entirely open and jumped back to create a decent amount of distance between them. With a twist in the air, Niwa reorientated her body and skidded to a stop on the ground with her hands and feet.
Niwa's specialty was her maneuverability and powerful kicks. She enjoyed hopping around her targets and twisting through the air to add speed and power to her attacks. Her brother, on the other hand, was a damn tank. He would simply block, strike, and maybe take a few steps back or duck out of the way from time to time. Though, they were always going easy on her.
Niwa launched forward again and bounced off her toes the moment she was within his range, redirecting her body to avoid being swept off her feet by her brother's shins. She forced her heel down into the man's forearm that guarded his ribs against her kick, she then brought the other leg up to strike at his unguarded neck mid-air. Masuru blocked her second attack with that same forearm like her strikes meant nothing.
Niwa grabbed at his arm, forcing her body to remain a meter above the ground rather than falling right away. She saw the way her brother pulled his free arm back and kicked off in a backflip just before the fist could land in her gut.
Crouched against the ground, Niwa took a split second to feel annoyed at the difference in their height. She pounced forward again, the moment she was close enough to realize, it was too late to do anything about the leg that connected against her right thigh. The kick from her brother's left shin completely forced her legs out from under her and pushed her body into a spin. Niwa didn't take her eyes off her brother for a moment, losing sight of her target was just asking for instant defeat.
Niwa landed on her left leg in a clean recovery and counted with another powered kick aimed right for Masuru's head. The older man dipped back just enough to avoid the strike with a smirk across his face and he dodged the roundhouse kick she followed up with.
"Focus." He warned.
Masuru launched a quick fist down toward her face, Niwa guarded against the attack with her forearms with an agitated wince. As she brought her hands down from the guard, Masuru used that instant where her arms blocked her vision to send a front kick aimed right for her chin. Niwa recognized the shift in her opponent's body, leaned back just in time to dodge and followed through in a sort-of flip sort-of bridge to gain a small amount of distance where she could still counter if he gave her the chance.
He didn't give her any chance, chasing after her with strike after strike aimed at her through her flip. She pushed off to her right with her hands against the ground, avoiding what would likely be a painful strike against her airborne shin, then ducked closer to the ground to dip away from another fist aimed for her head.
Shit, he was really pushing her this time.
Each dodge was only just saving her from pain and each fist he threw out was getting quicker and quicker.
Niwa grit her teeth through her thoughts and focused entirely on her opponent. She sent a high kick which was easily repelled by a matching strike of her brother's damn forearm and his other arm swept up from below his waist. It was like he was going to bash her head in with his wrist or something, Niwa crouched below the swinging arm and shoved both of her palms into his gut with all her strength.
The ground beneath her feet cracked under the pressure and the sheer force it took to shove her brother back the one meter she did. His feet dragged against the ground, easily putting a stop to his momentum and Niwa was quick to chase after him with her favorite 360 crescent kick. Masuru blocked her knee with the back of his arm and grabbed her leg.
Niwa knew that the moment he grabbed her, it was over.
He switched his grip in an instant and threw her body away like it meant nothing. Which, for her brothers, was absolutely true. Niwa landed on her shoulder first, but her hand snapped to the ground with quick reactions and pushed her body upright, coming to a smooth recovery from what would have been a bad landing for anyone else.
Masuru glanced off to the side quietly and Niwa followed his line of sight.
The first thing she saw was those beautiful red eyes she could never get enough of.
"Has it already been that long?" Niwa said to no one really as she walked over to a nervous-looking pair of boys who stood near Fukushia and Hanami. Well, Bakugou was more shifty than nervous but those were minor details.
"We got lucky with the train." Kirishima chuckled lightly and scratched at the back of his head while avoiding all eye contact, he was definitely nervous. Though, Niwa had no clue why.
It was only when Bakugou scanned her briefly and turned his stare off to his right that she bothered to notice. Her creamy white shirt was soaked with sweat, near see-through, and covered with dirt.
Disgusting.
"I'm going to have a quick shower and get changed," Niwa climbed up the engawa and strolled into the shade of her home, "Make yourselves at home, and don't blow anything up!"
"HUH!?" Came the bombshell annoyed yell.