Life still be cray. I'm sorry that I've had to abandon my weekly posting schedule, but hopefully I'll be able to get back to it soon! However, when I realized that this story is now up to 100 followers, I got so excited that I knew I had to get a chapter out. Thank you for reading along!

Chapter Twenty: Declaration of War

"Wh… what's going on?!"

Koharu blinked. She shook her head. The image didn't go away.

What the fuck?

Uraraka had slid open the door of 1-A to reveal a gaggle of uniformed students blocking the way out. Muttering heads peered into the room appraisingly, taking in the shocked expressions of those that had been on their way home for the day.

"What business do you have with Class 1-A?" Iida asked, one of his hands pointed firmly to the door.

"We can't get out!" Mineta cried. He thrust a fist into the air, his threatening pose undercut by the fact that his fist didn't even make it higher than Iida's stomach. "What'd you come here for, anyway?"

"They're scouting out the enemy, small fry." Bakugou marched forward, unbothered. "We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack. They probably wanna check us out before the sports festival." The blond paused as he reached the doorway, halted by the crowd in his way. "There's no point in doing stuff like that. Out of my way, extras."

Behind him, Iida began to frantically chop his arm up and down. "Stop calling people 'extras' just because you don't know them!"

Koharu crossed her arms, leaning her weight onto one leg. "Ah. He called me an extra before, too. We've been lumped in together."

Kirishima patted her shoulder consolingly. "Don't take it too personally."

"I came to see what the famous Class 1-A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant." A voice came through the doorway as a boy pushed his way through the crowd. His tired eyes were the same lavender as his hair, and his expression was carefully blank as he addressed the class. "Are all the students in the hero course like this?"

Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Mineta were shaking their heads wildly behind the scowling Bakugou's back. Twin thoughts raced through his and Koharu's minds: I don't like him.

"Seeing something like this makes me feel disillusioned. There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course. Did you know that?"

Bakugou grunted lowly in acknowledgement to the boy's words.

"The school has left those of us a chance," he continued. "Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider our transfer into the hero course… and it seems they may also transfer people out."

Koharu felt her eyes roll to the ceiling and back. Who did this bully think he was to come to their door and try to intimidate an entire classroom? How arrogant was he to challenge them all? She felt her eyebrow ticking as her face pulled into a scowl.

"Scouting out the enemy?" The bully scoffed. "I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the hero course, if you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you."

A heavy slam resounded through the room as Koharu foot made righteous contact with the edge of Kaminari's desk, followed swiftly by the sound of a shocked Kaminari falling backwards from his chair.

Wow, that was a lot of eyes on her. Koharu ignored them all, save for the lavender ones whose dark bags reminded her of her own. She felt her lips inching into a snarky grin as his own remained neutral. Loudly, she exclaimed, "You think we don't know that, punk?! If you're such hot shit, then put your money where your mouth is before I fill it with my foot instead!"

"Man, you're really fired up today," Kirishima mumbled behind his palm.

"Hey, hey!" Another voice boomed from the hallway. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu from Class 1-B pushed his way through the crowd. His white hair rose in large spikes, similarly shaped to the pale mask around his eyes. He addressed the room with forceful yelling, but his attention quickly centred on Bakugou rather than the familiar figure of Koharu. "I'm from Class B next door! I heard you guys fought against villains, so I came to hear 'bout it! Don't get so full of yourselves! If you bark too much, it'll be embarrassing for you durin' the real fight!"

Having heard enough, Bakugou began to push his way through the doorway without a care for the students in his way. Tetsutetsu's yelling continued despite Bakugou's withdrawal.

"You ignoring me, bastard?!"

Kirishima stepped to the side, joining the group near the front of the classroom. "Wait a minute, Bakugou!" He called, the blond pausing at his words. "What're you gonna do about all this? It's your fault that everyone's hating on us!"

"It doesn't matter." Bakugou's head turned, his red eyes piercing backwards before he turned to address the crowd. "It doesn't matter as long as you rise to the top."

Koharu's face felt hot. Did she have heart-eyes? She jumped towards Kirishima and latched herself against his arm as the two stared after Bakugou's retreating back. Her voice was tinged with a delighted laugh as she shouted, "Goddamnit, that's manly as hell!"

Kirishima nodded as his free arm curled up into a fist, a solitary tear gathering in the corner of his eye. "So simple and manly."

"The top, huh?" spoke Tokoyami, his head bowed thoughtfully. "There is truth in that."

"H-hang on!" Kaminari stuttered as he finally pulled himself up from the floor. "Don't be tricked! He just made more pointless enemies!"

Koharu released Kirishima's arm to cross her own against her chest. "They were already our enemies, either way." Her eyes slid towards the crowd in the doorway, still hosting that lavender-haired boy. "You heard the guy. They're here to take our places."

Black and lavender eyes met. She bared her teeth in an unsettling grin as the thrill of competition thrummed through her. "I'm looking forward to seeing them try."

"Hey, Kirishima?"

A hand swatted uselessly at her leg in response. Kirishima's heavy pants continued to sound from beside her as Koharu laughed through her own wheezing.

She opened her eyes to take in the picturesque sky above them, painted in hues of pink and gold. It was a beautiful sunset, she thought. It really was a shame that every part of her body was screaming in agony, making it hard to appreciate said beauty. Her eyes rolled to her friend sharply. "I fucking hate training with you."

Kirishima laughed, and this time the pressure against her leg was a condescending pat. "Me too. But we should do it again sometime."

"Oh, for sure," she easily agreed. With a pained grunt, she pushed herself up onto her elbows so that she could see the redhead who was still sprawled on his stomach beside her. "I didn't expect you to be so fast."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The fuck else?" Koharu asked in response, kicking her leg out to jostle Kirishima's arm. "You're built out of beef. I knew that you were probably going to kick my ass around— I just didn't expect it to be so much."

Kirishima laughed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Dirt was smudged against his face and over his chest from lying prone on the ground. "You still won two out of three. I don't know what you're complaining about."

"I'm not complainin'," she grouched back. One of her hands reached up to idly rub over the growing bruise on her jaw. "But did you have to go for the face?"

Kirishima's pointed teeth poked through his lips as he gave her an apologetic smile that didn't match the mischief of his eyes. "Ahh— sorry about that. I guess I'll go easy on you next time."

"I'll kill you first, bastard," Koharu replied quickly with a scowl. She shoved her hand roughly against Kirishima's face and smudged the dirt there, pressing his head down to the ground as he laughed at her. "You think you can beat me?"

Kirishima easily shoved her off of him despite the mirthful shaking of his shoulders. He gave her a cocky grin. "Best three out of five?"

"Oh, you're so fuckin' on, Sharkfa—"

"Koharu."

"Eh?" Koharu whipped around, surprised to see her brother standing by the edge of the field. His bandaged arms were still crossed against his chest, giving off a permanently displeased posture. Beside her, Kirishima quickly bolted upwards to stand.

"Aizawa-sensei!" He greeted, his hand shooting up into a salute. Koharu chortled beside him, and briefly considered sweeping his legs out from under him. She stood instead.

"What's up, Aizawa-sensei?"

"It's late," he said. He inclined his head backwards in a quick nod over his shoulder. "Let's go."

"Ah." Koharu sighed. She turned to Kirishima and knocked his arm out of his salute. He fumbled with his hands for a moment before shoving them into his pockets, looking briefly uncertain of how to act with their teacher watching them. Koharu smiled. "I guess we'll have to rain-check our next fight. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, for sure," Kirishima agreed with a nod. His own lips pulled into a small grin. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"'kay!" Koharu beamed at her training partner before jogging over to her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and waved good-bye to Kirishima. "Don't get into any fights without me!"

Kirishima laughed as he moved to retrieve his own belongings. "I'll try not to."

"Don't get into any fights," Shouta scolded from the sidelines.

Koharu rolled her eyes as Kirishima was suddenly saluting again. "Yes, Aizawa-sensei!"

"You're always so serious," Koharu admonished her brother as she reached his side, the two of them turning to begin the walk home. Shouta grunted in response to her comment, unbothered. "And I don't think you can really be talking shit when you're beat to all hell like that."

"I get paid to get my ass kicked," Shouta reminded her. "You're still in training. No license, no fighting."

Koharu snickered and picked a pebble to begin kicking forward as they walked. "I don't think that's what you're being paid for. I think you're supposed to be doing the ass-kicking."

"I did plenty of that, too."

"Roughly how many asses?"

"More than you," Shouta answered, kicking the pebble forward as well as it rolled in front of his feet.

"Hey, I kicked ass!" Koharu angrily retorted. "I kicked, like, at least three asses! Even more if you count assists!"

"You must be tired, then."

"What?" Koharu looked up at her brother. Everything ached with the lie. "No, I'm fine."

The pebble was kicked out of reach. The siblings watched as it stumbled down the road. Koharu scuffed her shoe against the sidewalk instead.

"Hizashi said you didn't sleep last night." Through the slit of his bandages, Shouta's eyes met hers knowingly. Koharu's chest puffed up with annoyance.

"Hizashi's a fucking tattle-tale," she seethed. "And again, I really don't think that you can be talking shit when you look like that. You should have been resting today, not at school."

"My health isn't—"

"Yeah, yeah, 'your health isn't important', my ass." Koharu huffed and stuck her nose in the air. "You're setting a terrible example for your impressionable baby sister, not to mention the rest of your students, y'know."

"Meh," Shouta replied, and despite the pain Koharu assumed it would cause, he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not here asking for advice from some brat."

Koharu's hands raised in a mimed throttle, mindful of her brother's injuries despite her great desire to strangle him. "Don't be so fucking rude!"

"I can be as rude as I want. I'm still your guardian for another three years."

"What's that supposed to mean, bastard?" Koharu asked with a scowl.

"It means, eat and go to sleep when we get home," he responded. "I'm ordering you to rest. No extra training tomorrow."

"What?" she squawked. "But the Sports Festival—"

"—can wait a day," Shouta sharply interrupted. "You're being too irrational. You shouldn't be getting into fights with Kirishima behind the school, brat."

"Hey! It's not like we were out there scrapping! We were really training!" Koharu indignantly replied with a frustrated pout. "We were just playing a game of knock-down after, and it's not like we were going all out or anything."

Shouta sighed through his bandages. "You should have already been resting. Don't think I haven't noticed that you hurt your back."

Koharu stumbled with her next step. "What?"

"You're not slick, kid," Shouta reprimanded softly. "I could tell from your posture, and now you confirmed it. You should have said something."

"Stop observing me, Shithead. I'm not about to start listening to hypocrites," she retorted, glaring down at the sidewalk. "I'll relax when you do."

Shouta heaved a sigh to the sky. "Why do I have to be responsible for such a petty little shit?"

"K'yah!" Koharu let out a battle-cry as she kicked out at the back of Shouta's leg, a move that was easily side-stepped by her practiced brother. He snickered as he picked up his pace to rush ahead of her. "I'll kill you, Shithead!"

"I'd like to see you try, brat!"

chapter end

oLainao— welcome back! Thank you for your review!

M— welcome back! I'm glad you enjoy Koharu + classmates, because this arc is going to have a lot of student bonding :) thanks for your review!

Otakugirl1996— welcome back! Koharu is totally awesome ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ I'm really looking forward to the Sports Festival too! Thanks for your review!

Emocean— I'm glad that you gave the story a chance! I love sibling dynamics more than anything, and it's so fun to write Shouta as an annoying older brother. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it! Thanks for your review!