Chapter 23
Saving the World with Love
"Hey, since we're off tomorrow and we just finished with our exams, why doesn't Class 1-A go shopping all together?"
Hagakure's outburst seemed to be gaining quite a bit of traction, as everyone began talking about their plans for the camping trip and all the things they needed to buy. Yaoyorozu looked particularly excited, turning in her seat to Rei. "Tsuki-chan, this is a wonderful idea! Will you be coming with us?"
Blinking three times quickly, Rei slowly shook her head. "Ah, sorry. I made plans already."
Unfortunately others in the class began pouncing on her, Kaminari and Ochaco in particular rounding on the girl in the back corner in a sudden manner, apparently lingering not far out of earshot and catching Rei's statement. Rei stiffened in her seat as multiple heads suddenly leaned into her personal space, multiple sets of eyes leering at her as they bugged out in their heads. "Whaat?! Akatsuki-san, why not?"
"Like I said, I made plans. Sorry. They're… important to me." She tried not to look at Bakugou, who was already walking across the front of the room. They had fallen into a sort of rhythm at this point that no one else had noticed yet, except for Yaoyorozu who was constantly in the loop. Bakugou was usually the first to leave the classroom, Rei leaving soon after to catch up with him so that they could walk to the station together and go home. No one else knew, and hopefully things would stay that way. It was a time where both of them could relax slightly from being surrounded by their classmates during the day, the first moment where their walls could come down even slightly.
"Oi, Bakugou! You're coming too!"
"Like I'd do something so irritating."
Rei couldn't help but smirking a little at Bakugou's typical response, lowering her head and disguising it as part of her movement to get out of her seat, grabbing her backpack and standing up. "Sorry," she gave her excuses to a watery eyed Kaminari and disappointed looking Ochaco, "maybe another time."
"Yeah, you better believe that we're gonna hold you to that!"
Her lips twitched. Would they really? Half of her doubted that they would even remember one week from now, especially where Kaminari was concerned, but the other half also wouldn't be surprised if they pulled it out a few months down the road when she had forgotten herself. Waving goodbye to Yaoyorozu, Rei walked purposefully out of the classroom, face schooled into a neutral expression all the way until she made it to the front of the school. She appeared at the same moment as Bakugou, her new tennis shoes easily sliding onto her feet and taking less time than Bakugou. Upon seeing her the boy nodding in greeting before the duo set off in unison.
Even as she heaved a sigh, Rei couldn't help but smile a bit at the rest of the class's planned excursion. "A class shopping trip, huh?"
He clicked his tongue, obviously annoyed by the idea of being forced to socialize with their classmates outside of academics. "What a bother."
"Don't you have to shop for things for training camp too?"
Red eyes turned toward her, filled with a small edge of curiosity. "Thought we were running errands tomorrow."
We. Internally, Rei was tickled at the notion. She smiled reactively, shooting back playfully. "Thought you didn't want to be weighed down by my errands."
"Smartass."
Lifting a hand to her mouth, she chuckled, watching as red eyes rolled in their sockets. To be fair, Rei hadn't exactly been planning on shopping for the trip, instead thinking about picking up small gifts for Hotaru and Reina since she was back in Kumo City. She wanted to visit a small tea shop and pick up some more Earl Gray, a specialty that Hotaru was particularly fond of. She had also decided to pick up some for Yaoyorozu, although that decision had come with much debate. From what she remembered in class, the girl and her family clearly had expensive tastes, the teas she had listed off coming from brands Rei had never even heard of before. But it was the thoughtfulness that counted, since Rei didn't have that kind of money. Momo wasn't snotty enough to turn down anything from her friend anyway. Besides, Rei had never done anything in thanks for Momo making her a new bag, and that had been at the beginning of the term.
But after Aizawa-sensei had announced that everyone was going on the training camp trip, he had passed an envelope to Rei as subtly as possible, casually and quietly mentioning that her application had gone through and had been approved. For a moment Rei sat in confusion, watching as her teacher left the classroom after the morning homeroom and wondering what application she had forgotten about. After opening it quietly she was shocked to find that she had been approved for the student fund, the application she had sent in literally a month prior in order to ascertain money for the camping trip. That had been the day that Rei had been told the orphanage was closing, before Reina had decided to take her in. Things were different now, but the relief Rei felt had been just as genuine; she didn't like the idea of taking money from Reina for herself, even if she needed the supplies. Flipping through the training camp guide in class, she had been blown away by the sheer amount of gear they needed, a second wave of thankfulness washing over her for Aizawa's mention of the financial aid scholarship. It would certainly buy her what she needed without making a dent in her personal funding, giving her a personal cushion.
Truth be told, she hadn't thought of shopping during the next day, her day to spend with Bakugou in Kumo City. But now that he mentioned it, she was certain that there were a few shops they could go into, at least for shoes and some other basics. There was a sizable mall in the prefecture, but nothing like some of the other ones. It would have to do for their day trip. Besides, they didn't need to buy everything in one fell swoop. They had a few more weeks until the trip came around anyway.
Rei smilled. "Alright. We can stop by the mall in the prefecture for a couple things after."
"After?"
The smile grew tight on her lips, a bit more forced as Rei's mind wandered to the reason for her trip the next day. "There's something I need to do first when we get there." Thankfully he didn't question her crypticness, only grunting in assent while staring forward at their path. They were approaching the station, the crowds growing as they got closer. Rei had to raise her voice slightly to combat all the noise as they boarded the train, squeezing on in and finding a spot to stand. "How are your arms doing today?"
"Sore as hell," he put it bluntly. "Can't pick up my damn pencil."
"Good. Then I can start massaging it out later."
But instead Bakugou thrust his arm out in front of her, using his other arm to hold on to the grips hanging from the ceiling. Rei blinked at the suddenness, looking between the hand extended in front of her and his face, then narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion. "Do you want me to fall over on the train?"
"Idiot. Just hold on to my hand if anything happens."
She couldn't help the cheeky grin that came on her face. "Are you just trying to get me to hold your hand?"
Her comment had disarmed him, making him flustered as he stuttered for a moment. "What-fuck, what? Just help me out, damn it!"
Grinning widely, Rei ducked her head as she took his arm into her hands, bracing herself as the train doors closed and the tram began to accelerate. She wasn't actually worried for the most part, since she was more than capable of standing upright; if anything she had simply been giving him a hard time. It was too easy to tease him when he wasn't expecting it coming, a certain difference from his stoic confidence that he wore all too easily during the day when he was caught off guard. As the train began to get underway she gently began massaging his arms out, the two of them huddle close together in the traffic. She could feel the tension, though she kept her motions less harsh than usual, the muscles still healing and she didn't want to bruise them or damage them further.
The trip passed in relative silence, the two of them momentarily lost in their own secluded worlds. It was after a particularly traffic laden stop that someone accidentally rammed their bag into Rei as they exited the train, knocking her off balance as she began to fall over. The hand that she had been working on gripped her tightly, Bakugou's other hand grabbing her upper arm to steady her as he sent a piercing glare at the offending individual. They didn't notice, so absorbed in leaving and with their back turned to the two, but Rei knew that the look Bakugou had sent them would have had them stuttering out an apology by anyone lesser in confidence. But instead she caught her breath, watching the traffic change in and out before turning to look at her savior. "Thanks." Her words came out more breathlessly than she would have liked, but Bakugou simply nodded, holding onto her for a moment longer before the train bell gently chimed, the doors sliding closed. He resumed his normal position, grabbing onto the grip hanging from the ceiling while loosening his grasp on her hands.
By the time they arrived at their destination Rei was finished with her work, reluctantly letting go of his hands and following him out into the station. Emerging in the hot afternoon light they began their trek through the streets back home. "So, tomorrow then?"
"Yeah."
"Don't make me wait."
He scoffed, hands digging into his pockets. "Who do you think I am?"
"Someone that enjoys sleeping in 'till noon."
Clicking his tongue, he tossed his head to the side, muttering a curse under his breath. Rei laughed freely, not bothering to hide her laugh this time. "I won't wake you up early tomorrow. Promise."
Her only response was an eyeroll, but she saw the corner of his lips twitch up for a split second, betraying his amusement. "Smartass," he muttered. "You better not."
"Bye." They had arrived at their houses, Rei waving goodbye as she walked past his house. She received a nod of a head as they parted ways, Bakugou disappearing into his front yard and entering his home.
Rei almost felt like skipping the remaining short distance to her house, but she restrained herself. Too giddy, and she would only draw more attention to herself and endure a plethora of questions from Reina. Instead she breathed in deep, composing herself as much as possible, though the smile never left her face.
It wasn't a date. Hell, neither of them had really confessed anything. But the feelings were there. Rei was over the moon to spend more time with him, feeling like she was impossible to tie down as her mind and heart floated up into the air. She would take every moment she could, day by day.
Summer vacation.
The shopping excursion Rei had taken with Bakugou had gone over rather well. Well, as well as it could go, with the two of them bickering left and right. It was all play, but there was something about using one's brain to try and get creative with all sorts of taunts and witty comebacks that was both energizing and draining. The two of them had ended up buying most of their gear that they needed for the upcoming camping trip, and had spent the day in relative ease, all with a trip to Mamaru's cafe at the end to tide them over. It was funny how much Bakugou had put up a fight about going all the way to Kumo City again for a cafe, but his face didn't lie when a chili pepper mocha was placed in front of him.
Needless to say, that earned him even more ridicule on Rei's part. All in good fun, of course. It was too easy to try and get him to explode.
Of course, it wasn't all one sided on Rei's part. Somehow - she still had absolutely no idea how - she had gotten guilt tripped, dragged, and kicked into taking the special cram hero course that U.A. was offering. When Bakugou realized that Rei hadn't signed up for the class, he had immediately whipped out his phone and forced her to fill out the slip electronically, much to both their chagrin.
Rei, because she was being forced into a class.
Bakugou, because Rei ended up changing all his ringtones and phone wallpapers by the time she handed his phone back.
It was karma, as she had said. At least she hadn't changed his password.
She still got an earful for that one.
But now her summer vacation was feeling a little less like summer vacation. Not like she really planned to do anything fun otherwise. Rei was pretty sure that Reina would be drilling her in schoolwork and advanced studies in every free moment, and the only excuse she would get to slip out of it was to physically train.
So Rei found herself waking up a couple days later and pulling on her school uniform, sitting down at the breakfast table and munching away on a quick breakfast with Reina and Hotaru before dashing off. At least the special class started a little later than normal school did, the only respite she received.
If only she could get a respite from Reina's morning exuberance.
Her mentor was particularly plucky this morning, looking as though she was about to burst with excitement, her cheeks puffed out. To Hotaru's credit, the other woman almost seemed to ignore this energy to the best of her ability, or at least she knew the source. Only Rei sat confused, raising an eyebrow at her mentor.
"Do I want to know?"
"That depends." Reina was almost bouncing in her chair, like an overexcited toddler. "Are you feeling spontaneous today?"
"Depends," Rei shot back, shoving a mouthful of cereal into her mouth and quickly chewing before swallowing. "Do I have a choice?"
"Nope!" Reina hesitated. "Well, you do. But I have a feeling you'll want to come."
"Come where?"
"How does a trip to I-Island sound for the I-Expo sound?"
Eyebrows shot up, Rei almost dropping her spoon as her grip faltered for a moment. "Excuse me?"
"That's a yes, right?"
"H-hold on…"
Hotaru sighed, iridescent eyes blinking blearily as she placed a hand on top of Reina's own, earning a look from her girlfriend. "Don't you have a business call to take soon?"
Reina shot up from her seat, talking to herself as she ran through the hallways in order to prepare herself. The two remaining girls stared after her for a moment before Hotaru sighed, taking a long draught of her coffee before returning to look at Rei, taking the wheels. "Reina's parents were invited, as per usual. They want to send Reina this year, since they're going to officially make an announcement in a couple days that she's taking over the company."
A frown covered Rei's face as she stirred her cereal before scooping up another bite, the spoon lingering in front of her mouth. "Shouldn't you be going?"
"I would, but I'm needed in my district. We have important staff meetings that I can't miss."
"I see."
"You'd be leaving tomorrow, I think."
Rei blinked.
Then she blinked again.
"Wait, what?!"
Eyes peering over the rim of her coffee mug, Hotaru grinned. "Consider it a 'spontaneous Reina special.'"
"More like Reina's special day to give me a heart attack." A pause. "I'll go. But I have to get to school right now."
"I'll start a bag for you. I'll let her know when she gets done with her conference call." She waved her hand at the young girl. "I'll take care of the dishes. You get out of here."
Rei called her thanks as she darted to the front door, realizing that it was getting close to time to leave. Throwing on her boots and slinging her bag over her back, she called out her farewells one more time before heading out the door and into the warm afternoon. Locking the door behind her, she stepped into the street.
It felt strange to be heading to school now. First and foremost, she hadn't been planning for this until a few days ago. It was only because a certain someone had dragged her into it, stating that she couldn't become a good hero if she sat back and watched the world fly by. Well, that and a few more rude things that had earned some rude responses, but that was neither here nor there. But it was also nearly nine o'clock in the morning, a time when Rei would already be sitting through English with Present Mic's rather enthusiastic lectures. It was too warm to be outside and running around, and she couldn't wait to get into the classroom where there was air conditioning.
Well, this was a special hero course technically. They would most likely be outside in their uniforms, but Rei didn't to think about that yet. She would take the day one task at a time.
And the first task after leaving her house, apparently, was greeting a familiar grumpy face.
Bakugou was already waiting for her outside the wall of his own house, slouching casually against the stone with his bag slung over his arm. Caramine eyes turned on Rei as soon as she came into view, lazily watching as she hastened her approach after seeing him waiting for her appearance.
"Morning."
She only received a nod and a grunt in return, earning a frown and an exasperated eye roll from her. "Oh, don't look so tired. You're the one that dragged me into this. I should be complaining."
"You're too talkative for the morning."
"It's nine. It could be worse."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
The only thing she received for her biting comment was a half hearted glare tossed lazily in her direction before he turned his head forward, starting off down the road. For a few minutes they walked in silence to the train station, Rei taking time to recenter herself. Summer vacation was already making her brain go mushy. She had to shake herself back into it.
"So," she started up again, "what do you think we'll do?"
"No idea. Hope we get to fight."
"Hmm." There was a possibility that they would be able to spar. The class was only open to six people, keeping the numbers down and potentially giving them more one on one time with the teachers. Even Rei couldn't deny that the thought of training directly with a teacher was an exciting one, a smile forming on her face as she thought of who she could be paired with. "Not a bad idea."
"'Course it isn't."
"Why, because you thought of it?"
"Duh. You're not the only one with bright ideas."
"Hmph. You're cockier this morning."
"And for some reason, you're more annoying."
"Good. Then I get to keep you in line."
An eye roll. "Whatever, idiot."
Even if this was a special class, at least some things were already becoming routine. It made Rei think about how strange things in her life had happened, how the pieces had already fallen together to sit where they now were. What had she done to be both so misfortunate and favored?
In the lazy morning, she sent a thankful prayer to whatever god could hear her. Perhaps her future wasn't turning out to be so bad after all.
"Alright, listen up."
It wasn't as though Class 1-A ever talked over Aizawa, but only having six people in the room really made a difference. Rei in particular felt as though she couldn't slump forward in her chair and lean toward the teacher like she usually did, forcing her to awkwardly sit up straight with her hands playing in her lap. She couldn't imagine how Todoroki felt, sitting completely exposed. At least Iida and Uraraka were sitting together, while Bakugou, Midoriya and she all shared the same row.
She didn't think that having fewer people in the class would really make a difference in the end, but having a direct line of sight to the teacher without at least four full rows of students sitting in front of her as a buffer really felt… strange.
"Just so you know," Aizawa looked to each of the students, staring them in the eye as he spoke. Rei shifted to sit a straighter as he looked at her in particular, holding her gaze for a moment longer before continuing, "This will be harder than a regular class. Prepare yourselves." Shuffling a stack of papers, their homeroom teacher began to read from a script. "In this class, you will fight and capture a hypothetical villain."
Rei saw Bakugou in particular sitting up a little straighter at the front of their row, head perking up. She ducked her head and hid her mouth behind her hand, compressing a snicker that threatened to come out. All the blonde boy needed were the words "fight" and "villain" in the same sentence to get them going. It wasn't sparring practice, but the activity sounded promising in its own way. Even Uraraka and Midoriya started cheering loudly until a single glare from Aizawa silenced them both, the classroom going deadly silent once again as they waited for him to continue.
"This should be obvious," he finally restarted after leveling those two students in particularly with an especially sharp look, as though daring them to interrupt him one more time, "but villains commit many different types of crimes. You will all go to the scene of the crime and determine what happened there, whether or not it was caused by the villain, whether or not you should fight, and train your abilities to assess and deal with the situation."
At this Rei deflated slightly. So there was a chance that they wouldn't even need to fight? Bakugou would be in a terrible mood afterward if that was the case, and she didn't want to walk all the way back home with a human bomb. Human bomb? Or maybe like one of those strings of firecrackers that they had on New Years…
"Anyway, your special instructors will be-"
The back door slammed open.
"I am here, coming through the back door!"
Rei nearly fell out of her chair, what with the sudden speed, appearance, and noise that had burst into the room next to her as All Might flexed his muscles at the back of the room. She was reminded of the first day of class when he had entered the front of the room in a similar fashion during Hero Basic Training, prancing to the front in costume and all. Frankly, she should have expected something similar to happen, what with how well she was getting to know All Might's ostentatious personality.
Scratch that. She would never get used to how suddenly the man could enter a room.
"It's not just All Might," Aizawa pulled everyone's attention to the front of the room, and Rei's eyes widened at the line up. "Cementoss, Midnight, and Present Mic will all participate as special instructors."
Strange. Even Rei hadn't expected such a high density of teachers. Why had so many of them come together, just for this class? Was that simply a testament to how hard this class would be, just like Aizawa had said? Was there a chance that they would be fighting the teachers like they had for the final exams?
"That's it for now. Everyone change into costume and meet at Ground Beta."
The teachers all began to file out as the students chimed in with a resounding "yes," no matter how strange it sounded with only six of them. Aizawa flicked the panel to access their uniforms before leaving, allowing them to pick up their briefcases before making their way to the locker rooms.
Uraraka and Rei quickly fell into step, the only girls in the special class. "Ne, how was your weekend, Tsuki-chan?"
Hiding the snort that she wanted to make, Rei only pulled her lips into a strained smile. Images of her bickering with Bakugou flashed before her mind. It had been just peachy, but she knew that answering Uraraka in such a sarcastic tone would only bring about more questions and more confusion. "Fine. Strange to not be in class."
"Yeah, I agree!" Uraraka flexed, puffing her cheeks out adorably. "I wasn't sure about having another class today when it's summer break, but seeing All Might all muscly like that really got me pumped up!"
"Mm." At least the gravity girl's energy was infectious. It was hard not to feel energized or at least a little more positive when in the girl's presence. "What did you do on your days off?"
"Me? Oh, mostly cleaning my apartment, running errands." She laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. "I don't know if anyone told you, but I'm going to be going with Momo and Kyoya-san to the I-Expo for a few days. Her family had tickets, so all the girls got together after the shopping trip and played rock-paper-scissors to decide who went." Suddenly, she looked panicked. "Ah! We're so sorry! We tried to invite you, but you never responded! I'm sorry!"
Rei only blinked in surprise. They had invited - oh, was that why Momo had texted her the other day? She had been so engrossed in bantering with Bakugou for the entire day that she had missed the text message until she got home later that night. So that was what Momo had been talking about. Shaking her head, Rei smiled awkwardly. "It's fine. I'm going with my mentor anyway." A frown came over her face. "Apparently."
"Ehh? Really? We have to meet up then!"
The two had arrived in the locker room, quickly stripping down and pulling on their costumes. Rei was already dreading being outside in the head in a black jumpsuit, but she swallowed her complaints, instead focusing on her friend. "Sure. I don't know what my mentor and I will be doing, but I'll let you know."
"Okay! This is gonna be so fun!"
"Uraraka-san."
"Yes?"
"Class comes first."
"Oh! Right! Of course!"
They had wasted no time upon arriving at Ground Beta, Aizawa taking them through the maze of streets until they had planted themselves in an alleyway around the corner from where their simulation would take place. Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida were almost comically poking their heads around the corner, attempting to discretely gauge the situation while stacking their heads atop one another in a manner that looked utterly ridiculous from Rei's point of view. Bakugou, Todoroki, and she had hung back, with both Todoroki and Rei opting to cast a glance at a more normal angle from further back.
Rei raised an eyebrow at the scene in the street. Cardboard cutouts…?
"Right." Aizawa started, drawing the six's attention as he began to speak. "I'll tell you the situation at the crime scene. There has been a villain attack at a jewelry store. The employees and customers have been taken hostage and everyone is barricaded inside. The number of villains and hostages is unknown."
A hostage situation. Fist clenched at her side, Rei couldn't help but relish in the spark of competitiveness that was lit in her chest. Finally, a situation that was more up her alley. It was a rather dark thought to be thinking about the simulation, but she couldn't help but feel thankful for the change of pace versus their regular Hero Basic Training classes that mostly pitted the class against one another in tests of skill and strength.
"You all have been asked by the police as pro heroes to come and resolve the incident."
"Aizawa-sensei!"
This time, Rei couldn't help but roll her eyes instinctively. How did she know this was coming?
But to her surprise, Aizawa cut their class president off. "I will not be answering any more questions. Verify the situation yourselves and resolve the case."
"Yes, sir!"
"Then let the capture training begin."
With those final thoughts, Aizawa began to blend into the background watching as his six students began to collaborate and think. Rei hung at the back, watching as Iida and Midoriya in particular began to think.
"So, what do we do first?"
"We need to figure out how many villains and hostages there are."
"Rei, you go." The group turned to Bakugou, who had surprisingly spoken. Rei quirked an eyebrow up, a bit caught off guard that he was the first to make a decision and the first to call on her.
"Me?"
"If we all stream in, the villains'll notice. Can't you get across the street easiest without anyone seeing?"
Folding her arms over her chest, Rei considered his idea for a moment. "I could, but getting an angle would be hard." Golden eyes turned over to Uraraka, locking onto the gravity girl as an idea began forming in her head. "Uraraka would be best."
The gravity girl's eyes went adorably wide as she pointed a finger at her face, blinking owlishly in a manner that was almost eerily similar to Rei. "Me?"
Rei looked back to the building. "Technically it's all one big window. You'll have to place yourself perfectly on the way over. But if I go, I risk not getting a high enough vantage or getting blocked by the glare of the windows." Brows furrowing, she crossed her arms over her chest, raising a hand to her chin in thought. It would still be nearly impossible for Uraraka to approach the building unnoticed, no matter the angle, especially if the villain inside was watching. The trade offs in this case for either one of them going was almost even in risks and potential problems. Upon a second glance at the building, she saw a phone number printed at the front of the building, just visible above the cardboard cutouts of the police. In that case…
Lifting her head, Rei looked at the entire group. "But we can have a distraction to cover for you."
"R-right." Clenching a fist, Uraraka nodded solemnly. "I'll do it."
"Then, Todoroki-san should make the call," Midoriya supplied, clearly seeing where Rei was going and noticing the number at the front of the building as well. No one seemed to have any problems with giving that task to the most level headed and able to improvise on the spot out of all of them. The group began to rotate into position, Todoroki pulling out his phone from his pocket and beginning to punch in the number, waiting to hit dial until the others were ready.
After everyone was ready, he hit the call button, the line ringing a few times before the phone was picked up. His brows furrowed as he listened for a moment, pulling the phone away and covering the microphone to speak to the rest of the group. "It's All Might playing the villain."
As soon as he began to engage All Might in a conversation, Midoriya pushed Uraraka across the space, the group holding their breath as they watched her slowly traverse the space. Rei only exhaled when the girl managed to grab onto the ledge and press her body flat, keeping herself as covert as possible. Eyes flickering between watching and Todoroki, it seemed as though the distraction was working thus far.
Finally Uraraka turned around, flashing two numbers on her hands. One villain, three hostages. As the group began whispering about what to do, Rei chanced a glance over to Bakugou, who was clearly stewing. Tapping his finger on his cheek, she could see the grimace growing bigger and bigger by the second, clearly unaccustomed to waiting for this long. Aizawa had baited his attention with a fight; it was clearly that he was irritated at being held out on for so long.
"Should we go around the back of the store?"
While Rei was surprisingly in favor of the idea that Iida had suggested (for what seemed like the first time that year), it was only time until Bakugou exploded.
And that moment was now.
Everyone jumped as Bakugou yelled out in frustration, standing up straight and flexing his arms. "This is stupid!"
"Kacchan-"
"Bakugou, don't tell me-"
"You're planning on charging straight in?"
Rei rolled her eyes. "And here we go."
She could see the look in his eye. It was the look that said that he had made up his mind, had made a decision that was unswayable. Of course, there was a chance that Rei could slap him out of it, but frankly she was itching to get on the move. The All Might Villain was standing at the window, and if they could capitalize on that…
"While I'm firing off explosions at that damn villain, rescue the hostages or something!"
"No way, are you thinking serious about that?"
"Stupid! Now's our chance, now that he's next to the window!"
Without leaving anyone a chance to counter him, Bakugou leapt into the air with a shout, leaving the rest of the team to follow in his footsteps. Rei winced at the sound as his explosions shattered the front of the store, and she briefly wondered if they would lose points if the hostages were affected by the blast or the smoke. Hopefully he had enough restraint, or at least had the desire to restrain himself enough for the sake of the hostages. He was smart enough on his own, but if he made them lose points then she would personally strangle him later.
Fortunately the wind was on their side, a breeze stirring the smoke enough to clear it out of the way and thin it a little faster than usual. But all that was revealed was a grueling scene, one that no one had been expecting in a hundred years.
On the floor, in a pool of blood, lay the villain.
Of course, it was assumed to be his own blood, given that there was a massive blood stain on his chest and a stain of blood under his body. But with Rei's heightened smell, she could tell that this was water and red food dye mixed with a bit of cornstarch to thicken the consistency just a touch. The other fact was that the teachers probably wouldn't actually stab themselves in reality just to liven things up. But for the sake of the exercise, the scene was set up well. The murder weapon was lying just shy of the villain's fingertips.
Rei was the first to move forward, only hesitating for a moment as she took in the entire scene. Looking behind her, she nodded her head at her teammates. "Check on the hostages and make sure that they're uninjured and safe. Their well being comes first right now."
The boys in particular looked startled that Rei had been the first to move, but Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki all spread across the jewelry store and went to the civilians. Bakugou simply watched as Rei walked forward, crouching down next to All Might's head and surveying the scene.
The helmet was off. Strange, but noted. With two fingers she pressed against his neck delicately for a pulse, taking it in before moving around toward the murder weapon, inspecting it closely. Sure enough it was stained with blood as well, a nice touch to the serrated knife as it gleamed on the floor. As soon as the rest of the team made it back, rounding up the civilians in one area, Rei stood back up, although her eyes didn't leave All Might's face, eyes closed peacefully.
"He has a pulse. Realistically, based on where he stabbed himself, he would be on his last legs right now or dead. Paramedics would be on the scene in a few minutes, but there's little chance they would be able to save him, based on where the police were and how long this might have been going on." Lifting her head, she looked to her classmates. "Does anyone have any rope?"
"Rope?"
Midoriya looked frightened at the idea, stammering out to the best of his ability. At least he seemed to understand where she was going with this. "T-tsuki-chan, isn't that unnecessary? If the villain is dead…"
"Someone might have a quirk that allows them to fake it." Or that allows them to escape death and somehow come back to life after a minute or two. Like me. "Doesn't matter if it's a corpse. We need to take precautions."
Todoroki was the one who moved forward, helping Rei flip the body over and restrain his arms against his back. Iida and Midoriya frankly looked sick, and as Uraraka jumped down from the roof she looked rather startled as well.
"Did Bakugou's blast kill him?"
"It wasn't that strong! Anyway, weren't you supposed to be watching from up there?"
"I couldn't see anything because of the smoke from the explosion." Rei had to commend Uraraka for standing up to Bakugou, a marked difference from the beginning of the term. Come to think of it, almost everyone seemed to be getting over Bakugou's rough manner of talking, or rather yelling at everyone, simply taking it in stride at this point. Even Midoriya, who could barely stammer out a phrase against his rival and childhood friend seemed to be at least coherent at this point. Tossing his head to the side, Bakugou scoffed, unwilling to take the blame.
It was Todoroki who spoke up again. "The murder weapon is there," he tilted his chin in the direction of the knife that was near their feet. "It's this knife covered in blood."
"Well, the scene of the crime was surrounded by police," Iida began, trying to piece the story together. "If we assume that no one went out or in in that time, then whoever killed the villain was among the hostages."
Rei had to admit that the teachers' acting was rather well done, as they all managed to look horrified at Iida's accusation. But while philosophically and in isolation, Iida's statement made logical sense, Rei knew that it wasn't the case.
However, Midoriya beat her to the punch. "Wait, Iida. It's too soon to decide that. Let's listen to what the hostages have to say."
Thankfully at this point, the hostages had been rounded up. As each one began their story, Rei continued to linger over the body of All Mi-the villain. Midoriya's concern over the ethics of tying up a dead man had struck a chord with her, something that she hadn't really thought of. So engrossed in following the darker logic within her, she had completely skipped over what was morally considered right. She hoped that her classmates didn't hold it against her at the end of the day, although half of her was still convinced that she was right and didn't need to apologize for everything.
At the end of the day, she knew some things that her classmates didn't. And that was what gave her the ability to act, even though others considered it dirty or strange.
Much to everyone's growing frustration (and to Rei's impression), the narratives that everyone had given all lined up, without any contradictions. Todoroki had even tested them, asking careful questions to each individual in order to supplement their testaments, to no avail to try and get them to trip up. Even when Midoriya asked to see the wallets of the civilians, their money supplies backed up their stories.
As Iida was once again fond of saying, "As expected of U.A.!" Only this time, it was really the teachers that she was impressed with and their degree of planning and attention to detail. She remembered how in elementary school their teacher had tried to get all of them to do a class play, and while most people were into it, it was impossible to get everyone on the same page.
Well, perhaps that was a little bit of an unfair analogy. Small children were walking, talking germs that cried over the smallest things and could barely remember what they ate for breakfast that morning. But to see that the teachers were truly putting their all into this scenario, on a meta level, was quite impressive to Rei.
It was only time before Bakugou exploded with impatience again. Now it was two fold, both over his anger that he had been cheated of a fight and that the scenario was continuing to drag on and on. "Whatever! The villain was killed, and the culprit was one of them!"
"And the motive?"
"Huh?! It's the stolen jewelry, duh!"
Still lingering over the villain's body, Rei looked back up from where she had been watching his breath. It was clear that All Might was trying to keep his breathing even and undetectable, but Rei wasn't about to miss any of those signs. "Bakugou." She leveled him with a glare, sparks flying between the two as they clashed before she slowly dragged her eyes over to the rest of them. "Wait." Turning to the civilians she crossed her arms over her chest. "Would you please be able to state your quirks and give a brief description of your abilities?"
"My quirk allows me to control cement and manipulate its form."
"My quirk allows me to make my opponents fall sleep if they breathe in my perfume."
"Yo! My quirk is like so, giving me rhymes and beats, yo! Hear me in your ears, airwaves everywhere! You know?"
Rei's eyes narrowed. So they were sticking to the quirks they had as teachers. It made sense, in order to have less components to the story to juggle. But with that came the fact that…
"Tsuki-chan?"
Rei looked to Midoriya and the rest of the group, who were looking at her in confusion. Only Todoroki this time seemed to have an idea of where she was going with her interrogation, eyes lighting up. She had just opened her mouth to speak when Iida returned from the back room. "I've checked every corner of the store, but there's no back exit and the windows are closed."
Snorting, she rolled her eyes. "Good. At least we have confirmation that our first plan would have been busted anyway. That saved us time."
"You tryna start somethin', idiot?"
"Akatsuki." The half hot, half cold boy pulled everyone's attention back, his eyes turned onto the girl who continued to stand over the villain, refusing to move from her position. "What were you going to say?"
"You're accusing the civilians of murdering the villain. How could they do that when they were bound, in separate corners, and their quirks are unable to either stab him or get him to stab himself?"
Everyone seemed startled at the statement. It was so easy, so clear to Rei, and now that it was thrown out there it seemed so obvious and straightforward. Of course the civilians were tied up; the only way that they would be able to kill them was if they had a quirk that was able to do so. But given that their quirks were known…
Rei sighed. "Which leaves one last person. It was suicide. Although, we won't really know, since the villain was wearing gloves so he wouldn't leave any DNA evidence on the murder weapon.
"But why would the villain barricade himself inside the store?"
For all their wandering and clue collecting, it always seemed like no matter what they did, they always circled back to square one. Motive. Wasn't it true that the police had asked them to come in and diffuse the situation, as per what Aizawa had stated? Now that they had a murder on their hands, shouldn't they follow through with the rest of it? But where did they start now? Heaving a sigh, Rei lifted her hands to her temples. This class was a headache enough. Why did she sign up for this again?
"If the villain was after just the jewelry…" Rei paused in her motions, looking up to Midoriya as he continued his train of thought. "Then shouldn't he have taken off right after grabbing it?"
Golden eyes blinked.
Oh.
She would be kicking herself later for not seeing that.
Much to everyone's surprise, it was Cementoss who jumped in. "That's because while I was putting the jewelry in the bag like he was ordering me to, the police arrived."
Just like that? Uraraka caught on before Rei could make a comment. "Did you call them?"
Their teacher civilian actor shook his head. "It wasn't me."
"So somebody saw from outside and called the police."
"In that case…" Midoriya suddenly looked rather certain, determined that he had the answer. "The person that called; it was you, wasn't it, Midnight?"
"M-me?"
It wasn't a very good fake out, but Midoriya continued regardless. "Because you were the only one to come in after the villain entered."
The rest of their group seemed to jump in at this in protest, Bakugou the most vocal and loud of them all. "Idiot, don't make this worse. Why would the person who called the police come inside and get caught on purpose?"
"Because that was the reason why the villain barricaded himself inside in the first place."
To be honest, Rei was lost. She had lost Midoriya's train of thought, and could no longer figure out where he was going with this. And to be frank, she was already about to mentally check out. She was the one who had figured out that this was a suicide, who had defended the civilians when everyone else assumed that they had killed the villain themselves. In her eyes this was wrapped up; the villain was dead, the civilians were saved, the end. But at the same time her interest had been piqued, what with the way that Midoriya was going with the story.
A curious part of her wanted to know how this ended.
"Midnight, you knew the villain before this, didn't you? On top of that, you knew he committed crimes. Knowing that ahead of time he was going to rob the jewelry store, you called the police right after he attacked. And then, right before the police showed up, you entered the jewelry store yourself."
Okay, scratch that.
Rei was lost again, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know where this was going anymore. To her it seemed almost too over the top, too detailed, too nuanced for a training exercise for them to be covering during their summer vacation. But hadn't the wallets, the attention to detail been the exact thing that had sold this exercise in the first place?
Tossing one more glance down to the villain at her feet, she noticed that he was beginning to twitch just a bit. With a raise eyebrow she watched him a little more intently, keeping half her attention on the story Midoriya was weaving. It wasn't like she was super invested anymore. Now she just wanted to know if she was right to tie up the villain so she could prove her classmates wrong.
"The villain was shaken to see an acquaintance appear, but he also understood your real intention. Even so, the villain continued the robbery, tying you up. That was when the police arrived, and he was forced to barricade himself."
Now it was Midnight's turn to react, although given most of her acting to this point, it was most certainly reinforcing Midoriya's admittedly lengthy narrative. "W-why would I feel the need to do that?"
"Isn't it because you wanted to stop him? The villain?" At this Midnight shyly looked away, Midoriya pressing forward even further. By this point Rei was convinced that Midoriya himself was getting way too into it. "No matter how many times you tried to convince him to stop, he wouldn't."
Yeah, okay. Booooring. She was officially zoning out.
Except she couldn't. What if Aizawa was watching and noticed that she wasn't there anymore?
Dammit.
"Wait, Deku-kun!"
Oh thank god, Uraraka finally broke the monologuing. "Even if what you say is true, then why was the villain killed?"
Golden eyes rolled, as she half muttered to herself. "Suicide, remember?"
"If the villain was caught, then Midnight's relationship with him would have been exposed, and she would have a dark shadow fall over her life." As Midoriya continued to elaborate, Midnight began to break down crying, sealing the story.
Aaalright. Are we done here yet?
"Then, were Midnight and the villain?"
"Yeah. Midnight was trying to save the villain because she loved him."
"And the villain was trying to save Midnight because he loved her."
A shadow fell over the group, compassion for the two and how their sorry story had ended. It was a tragedy, to see two lovers parted in such a way.
Rei had to turn around and cover her mouth to hide the fact that she was trying not to laugh so hard, she was crying.
Unfortunately, she turned straight to face Bakugou.
Who looked completely revolted by the entire situation and disgusted by the soppy story.
"Good job everyone." It was in that moment that Aizawa appeared in the doorway, Midnight finally breaking character in what was a final emotional whiplash of the day as she cheered out of fun. Right then, Bakugou and Rei finally made eye contact.
She lost it.
The rest of their class jumped at the sudden loudness of Rei's laughter as she clutched her stomach, bending over at the waist as her shoulders shook. Her amusement only set Bakugou off even further, hands sparking with small explosions as he began to yell obscenities in return. "Oi! The fuck are you laughing at, stupid?!"
"Your- your…" Collecting herself for a moment with a sniffle, Rei looked back at Bakugou's face before dissolving into another fit of giggles, much to his irritation and anger. Temper flaring, he smacked his hand on top of her hair, shaking her head around.
"Stop fucking laughing! It's not that funny!" But his anger only made her laugh even harder, a vicious cycle continuing.
The rest of the class looked surprised and horrified.
Uraraka in particular had her brown eyes wide open, unsure if Bakugou was completely set on beating Rei up or not. She was scared for her friend. But at the same time… "Tsuki-chan…"
"Is laughing." Todoroki's eyes were soft. He had seen how natural, how gentle Rei could be before this moment. He had known since after the sports festival, when they had coincidentally met on their way to the hospital where his mother was. All that time he had been kicking himself with grief and agony of how he had nearly killed his classmate, even though he hadn't realized it at the time, so consumed by his own hatred and anger and desire to overcome his father's shadow. And yet, she had approached him with kindness. To see her finally breaking open again was a relief, although neither did he know how to feel about the situation nor the timing since the boy shaking her to the bone looked ready to end her life in an instant.
Midoriya in particular was half concerned, half relieved. Concerned that Bakugou looked as though he were going to rip Rei into shreds, what with the way that she was laughing at him. But in all the entire term, he had never seen her so carefree, had never ever really seen her laugh like this before. It was the most open she had been, slowly prying her layers away so that the class could see her in snippets.
And if he was honest, he could see the annoyed amusement that lingered in the back of Bakugou's eyes as well.
"All right, pull it together." At Aizawa's command Rei began to calm down, although her eyes continued to sparkle with glee, much to Bakugou's irritation. Their teacher nodded to the other three actors, acknowledging his coworkers. "You three are free to go."
As the rest of the teachers walked out of the class, Rei shifted her glance to All Might, who was still lying on the ground, although clearly uncertain if he should remain. But Aizawa did not acknowledge him, and instead he stayed on the ground. Blinking, Rei returned her full attention to Aizawa as he began to speak.
"Midoriya. Your deductions were exactly the same as the scenario we prepared for this." She should have seen this coming. After all, all the minute details were there; wouldn't it make sense that the scenario would be convoluted and peppered with tiny factors as well? "Good job, getting all the way from the beginning to there will few clues."
"Ah, Aizawa-sensei is praising you!"
"Good work, Midoriya."
"But-"
Everyone snapped to attention as Aizawa's eyes fell on Rei, who startled a bit at the sudden intensity.
"You have Akatsuki to thank for saving your score."
"Eh?"
"Tsuki-chan…"
"What?!"
"Akatsuki was the only one who directed efforts to rescuing and consoling the civilians in the beginning, a critical step of any rescue efforts. She was also the one who figured out it was a suicide, saving the civilians from accusation. And finally…"
A booming laughter sounded, and Rei jumped back as All Might suddenly sprang to his feet, striking a pose as best he could with his upper body tied. Was the man ever not going to give her a heart attack? "I am here, as the villain, and still alive!"
The rest of the group burst into shouts and exclamations, while Rei's gaze simply darted between All Might and Aizawa, seeking an explanation. Eventually their homeroom teacher took over, seeing as how All Might suddenly burst out the door and ran down the street, following the other teachers away, arms still tied comically behind his back as he laughed maniacally.
"The rest of you were under the assumption that the body was a corpse, and didn't tie it up. Rei was the only one who thought of the fact that there was a possibility that they were still alive. If it weren't for her, you all would have failed this exam."
"What?!"
"You're allowed to do that…?"
With a flourish and a flip of his scarf, Aizawa turned away, walking down the street in the opposite direction as All Might. "That's all for today's special class. Dismissed!"
Silence.
Then Iida broke their thoughts. "Wait, if the villain is alive, then he pretended to kill himself but was looking for a chance to escape, right?"
Aiyah.
"But then… Midnight misunderstood about their love? What about their love?!" Uraraka looked like she was on the verge of hysterics, with too much emotional whiplash occurring in the span of five minutes. Even Rei's head was spinning, although she was on the opposite end, ready to dissolve into another fit of laughter.
Of course their love wasn't real. Or, at least it was one sided.
But even Midoriya and the other boys seemed invested as well. "Yeah, what about their love?"
"Their love…?"
Rei burst out into laughter again. "Ahahaha, I knew it was too over the top!"
"There was no love! That's all!" Bakugou angrily stormed off, Rei tagging along at his side. She had to jog to keep up with his pace, hopping and skipping as she turned to face him with a sloppy grin spread across her face.
"Bakugou, your face back there…"
"Hah?! You got something to say about my face?"
"Yeah!" With a shit eating grin, and to the horror of the rest of the class, she flicked Bakugou dead center on his forehead before skipping away a few steps for her own safety. When she looked back, she started laughing again. "Yeah! It looked just like that!"
The entire group could feel it. A volcano, ready to erupt. They didn't even have to see his face, Bakugou's back turned toward the group as he stood in between them and Rei, who was a little further ahead on the way back to the main campus. Golden eyes flashed, a stupidly big grin plastered across Rei's face as she looked at Bakugou for a moment longer before sprinting away at top speed, scaling a building and vanishing over the rooftop in the blink of an eye. At least she knew what she had asked for, already darting out of danger's way.
For now.
An explosion ripped through the space, dust obscuring everyone's view.
No one needed to see anything anyway in order to know what was going to happen.
"AKATSUKI! GET BACK HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
With the two of them taking off in the most dangerous game of tag invented yet, the other four were left behind quite literally in the dust, staring off into the distance and trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
First of all, they had managed to survive a grueling day of detective work for their special class. Understanding the narrative that they had uncovered had taken quite a bit of detective work and brain power, consuming a good deal of energy. There had been enough emotional whiplash from dealing with the sob story to seeing Midnight's sudden break of character right at the end, to All Might's dramatic reveal at the end.
And then, to layer everything on top of that, there was their own classmates. Rei had burst open in a shocking moment of humor, unable to contain her laughter. It was strange in and of itself that they had never really seen a funny side in her, other than the dry, mocking jokes that she tended to make on the side. All of that, combined with the fact that she had chosen to laugh at the one person no one wanted on their bad side.
What was the world coming to?
Uraraka looked rather nervous for Rei's sake, eyes flitting back and forth between the last remaining members of their group and the direction in which the bickering duo had taken off into. Finally she looked at Midoriya, brown eyes resting on the boy who had a strangely peaceful look on his face. "Deku-kun?"
"Ah, sorry!" He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Just thinking."
"Do you think Rei's going to escape?" Iida half muttered to himself, helmet tucked under his arm. He had lifted a hand to his chin, as though calculating the statistical odds of how many pieces they would find Rei in once they got back to the classroom, or if they would even find a body at all. "Of all the risky things she does…"
"She'll be fine." To everyone's surprise, it was Todoroki who began walking forward, leading the rest of the group back toward the main campus at a slower pace. Hands in his pockets, he simply looked forward as he walked, confidence showing on his face. "She's not stupid."
Puffing her cheeks out, Uraraka began to follow. "I know that…"
But Midoriya smiled softly to himself. He had to agree with Todoroki. Even though Bakugou had been quick to jump after Rei, there was something different about him. About her. About the two of them.
Change was often strange, but never always a bad thing. Deep down inside, he couldn't help but feel like this was a turn for the better.
"I said I was sorry!"
"And I said that's bullshit! You're not sorry at all!"
Rei grinned, unable to hold it back any longer. "You're right. I'm not sorry."
Her admission only earned another flick on her ear, earning a yelp and a scowl as she rubbed the offended appendage and glowered at her companion as they began the trek home.
Their chase through Ground Beta had ended with Bakugou tackling Rei into the ground, sending them flying and skidding on the pavement before grinding to a halt, Rei rather disoriented. He had slammed into her rather powerfully, using his explosions to propel himself forward at a fast rate, and even though he had been rather unamused and held her under his form for a minute she had noticed how he had guarded her head from sustaining severe trauma from his onslaught. Even so, she was thankful that her costume had absorbed much of the impact and kept her from getting scratched and beaten up by the stray gravel and other debris on the ground. But after he sat on top of her and pinned her down, listening to her complain about how heavy he was, he had simply flicked her on the forehead and stormed off to change into his regular school uniform, finally leaving Rei in the dust.
She had half expected him to go home without her, what with the dramatic exit he made and what with how she had irritated and poked fun at him all day, but to her surprise he had been waiting at the school gates as usual. She had made yet another witty comment, receiving another flick on the forehead before he had turned away, bringing them to where they were now walking side by side.
"You're insufferable."
"And you needed to let off some steam. You seriously looked ready to rip off Aizawa-sensei's head at the end of that session."
"Hah! And that's why you made me run after you?"
"Yes."
Stunned, Bakugou found himself falling silent at Rei's blatant admission. They continued to walk along, Rei keeping her eyes schooled on the road in front of them. "I know you. You were expecting to fight, from what Aizawa told us in the morning. But all we did was rationalize the situation out. Anyone could tell you were pent up."
He muttered something half to himself, something along the lines of her being a "know it all," with Rei only smirking half in response, half to herself. She was right, and they both knew it.
Lapsing into another comfortable silence for a while, Rei simply drank in the afternoon light. It had been a good day. A bit mentally grueling, but worth it. "Thanks," she began, "for dragging me out to this class."
"Drag yourself next time, idiot."
Again, the term was spoken with endearment. As Rei snuck a glance over at her friend she noted the way that the sunlight danced in his eyes, making them glitter a brilliant ruby color and setting them aflame in the late afternoon. This time his trademark scowl was suspiciously missing, face looking much more smooth than it normally was.
Rei knew why. She would be a fool to not understand or try to convince herself otherwise.
Soon, she promised herself. Soon, she would give in. She could already feel her walls breaking down like a dam in ill repair, the overflow ready to pour over the barriers she both wanted to remain intact but was too lazy to repair. These feelings would eventually breach the walls and break everything she had tried to contain for all this time.
Soon.
AN: To be honest, I originally threw this and the next chapter to the side because I didn't know what to write. But I'm finally making progress, even if it was like pulling teeth! In the next chapter, we'll be getting to the training camp arc! Get excited!
I seriously need a break from writing. Today (I'm writing this AN on Thursday and uploading it ahead of time) was my free day, and I was going to take it easy and watch some shows for fun. I literally started watching Bleach again (tbt to 2004 when televisions were still square and we literally had all of sixty four pixels for our resolution lol), and my brain immediately went to writing. I ended up cycling through four different chapters/ stories (a Bleach brainstorm, a new AU for this story, editing this current chapter, and writing for chapter 24) for the entire day. I'm seriously wiped. I estimated that I wrote another 18k today alone. Like... how? Apparently I'm back on my bullshit.
In any case, I'm taking a break from writing for the next few days. I've promised that the only thing I'll touch are my AU ideas for this story, and nothing new. It's also to make sure I get homework done as well for class. But don't worry! I only have another 1-2k or so to write for the next chapter, and I'll have that done for sure by the next time I update. It's just a small, personal break for me. If anything, I'll upload what I have and do edits later, since what I do have is already chunky enough.
Review Response time!
dragontamer64: I hope you are doing alright! Thanks for taking the time to write a review even if you're busy or not doing well. Hope things are working out for you still! I'm glad that the fight was fun; I kind of forgot what I had written, so returning to edit that chapter after not seeing it for a couple weeks was really fun for me as well. Yay, Bakugou and Rei content!
yaoi4adollar: Rei is such a sweetheart at her core. Little miss tough nugget, but such a softie. Thanks for the review!
Anseo: I'm glad that you liked my choice of Jirou! I was really thinking hard about things and how to change things up a bit and make it unpredictable, so Jirou was the first character that came to mind (also because she's super easy to work with). I will take that fighting suggestion into consideration, though now that I think about it you might enjoy the training camp arc... Mwahahaha :D Thank you for all the Rei appreciation and love! And I promise, I will try to finish the AU some time soon... I promise I will. (also, the UNIQLO shirt is LIFE)
ILikeFoxes828: YES OUR SHIP IS SAILING AND I AM HERE FOR IT! Please look forward to the next chapter for more very excellent Rei/ Bakugou content. Thank you for the reviews again!
Dear Apollo: Thank you so much! Honestly reviews do help me a lot, but I can't force people to leave a bunch of reviews. I feel like I'm a pretty new writer on this site too, so not many people have read this. In any case, thank you for your love! Please look forward to more beefy chapters in the future :D
Please look forward to some very good Rei/Bakugou (or as I now love to call, the "Grumpy Cat" ship) content next chapter!
Please leave a review if you are enjoying this story!