Chapter Twenty-Eight: Wanna Fight About It?
She was standing exactly where Bakugou had left her when she was interrupted by yet another voice.
"Haru."
It was a familiarly deep and muffled rumble of a voice, and that was the only reason Koharu didn't start yelling about the use of her childhood nickname. Shouta stood at the end of the hallway with his expression hidden behind heavy bandages. Still—
"Don't call me that," Koharu whined. She trudged her feet towards her brother with a small pout on her face. "What do you want?"
"That's not much of a way to speak to your teacher." Even with the bandages, Koharu thought she could see the smug look on Shouta's face.
"It didn't seem like you were coming to me as a teacher, Aizawa-sensei." She pulled a face as she spoke his name, her nose scrunching as though she had tasted something awful.
"I wasn't," he acknowledged. "I'm here as your brother." Shouta paused. "As your brother, I can say good job in the first two rounds."
Koharu tilted her head to the side until her hair covered her eyes. While it wasn't completely unfamiliar for Shotua to praise her, she usually had to do a lot more to earn it. His compliments sat uneasily in her stomach. She twisted her fingers into her jacket. "But you can't say that as my teacher," she gruffly replied.
Shouta was watching her carefully. "You noticed something?"
"Didn't you?" she responded. "It was hard not to notice, at least for me. Even Tokoyami noticed, and I don't think he usually gives me much thought beyond homeroom."
Shouta seemed to breathe a little heavier at her words. Kohru realized that he had been standing with even more of a slump to his shoulders than usual, almost like he was trying to shrink in on himself. His eyes, typically alert, seemed half-glazed.
Was he in pain? It was rare she saw Shouta as anything other than perfectly composed. Koharu felt her brow furrow in concern, and she was taking another step closer to him before she realized.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Shouta's eye snapped to focus on her. "You need to throw the next round."
Of all the possible answers—
Koharu did not expect that one.
Her mouth opened and closed without sound. She repeated Shouta's words over and over in her head, trying to find new meaning in them. Had she misheard him? Did she suddenly forget to speak Japanese? Was 'throw' actually code for 'win'? Was it Shouta beneath those bandages at all, or an alien taking his place? The man and his offer went against all she had known of Shouta.
There is only one person trying to stop you. It is yourself.
So much for that, Tokoyami.
"Why?" Koharu heard herself ask.
Shouta's eyes drifted as he looked around them to the empty hallway. "It's not something I can explain here," he answered. "I will, but I can't right now. I need you to trust me, Haru."
Haru.
Why did everyone have to call her that? Haru. Haru. It was such a stupid name. So childish—
"I won't," Koharu said, shocking even herself. Surprise at her outright rejection widened both of their eyes. Scrambling to regather her confidence, Koharu asked, "Why can't you tell me right now?"
"I'll explain everything, but right now, you need to listen to me," Shouta pled. Koharu took a step backwards as Shouta stepped forward, and betrayal hung heavy in his eyes. "I'm just trying to protect you. I know it doesn't make sense right now, but—"
"You're right, this doesn't make any sense," Koharu shook her head. "I don't want it. I don't want to be protected— I want to protect people. I want to be a hero."
"You'll still be a hero," Shouta desperately replied. "I told you that I would help you, and I'm not trying to take that back. I know that this is hard to understand right now, but—"
She stomped a foot. Shouta was successfully stunned into silence by the childish action.
Only minutes earlier, Koharu had half a mind to do exactly as Shouta had said and throw the tournament. She still wasn't sure that she had earned her place, but now things were different. Maybe it was being told that she shouldn't do it that made Koharu want it all the more, but a fire was raging in her stomach and she couldn't just snuff it out! She had to let it out.
"No!" Koharu declared again. "You said it yourself, we only have three chances," she emphasized this point by jabbing three fingers close to his face, "Three chances! To get this right. My entire future is riding on this tournament, and we both know it. You're asking me to give up on my dream?" she paused for a breath, and her eyes sought her brothers searchingly. "I don't get it. You're always so rational, and now you're not making any sense. Tell me what's going on."
Shouta seemed to shrink into himself more and more with her every word. It didn't make her feel any bigger.
"Trusting me now will be the last favour I ever ask of you," Shouta swore. His tired eyes stared into hers. "Please. "
Koharu saw beneath the bandages covering every inch of her brother. She saw his skin peeling away from his arm, and she saw her brother's limp body on the ground and in his hospital bed— she saw his golden goggles drowning in a pool of red.
Comminuted fractures in both arms. Facial fractures— frontal, mid-face, orbital.
Koharu suddenly wasn't sure what was more important: her brother, or her pride. She wondered what he saw when he looked into her eyes— who he saw. Was she Haru, or Koharu? Or was she someone else entirely?
She swallowed thickly. "Shouta—"
xox
Koharu didn't know how she found herself next to Bakugou.
She was nearly late in returning from the noonday break, and the rest of Class-A had already beaten her to the arena by the time she arrived. Upon observation, the girls all seemed to be wearing cute cheer-leading outfits, but none of them seemed particularly happy about it.
The boys, on the other hand…
Deeming it best not to rub it in to the other girls that Koharu was still fully-clothed, she avoided that group altogether. By the time she looked up, she was already standing in front of a perturbed looking Bakugou.
"When I said 'see you on the field'—"
"I just want to not talk to someone for like, two seconds," Koharu interrupted the blond before he could get in anything particularly snarky. "You do know how to shut up, right?"
Bakugou opened his mouth and looked ready to insult her before realizing that he would only be proving her point by speaking. He turned away from her, his face pinched like he had eaten a lemon. Koharu smiled smugly and turned her attention upwards to the sky.
The silence passed for only twenty seconds.
"...why'd you come over here if you don't have anything to say?"
Koharu looked over to see Bakugou had yet to turn towards her. His arms were crossed across his chest and he was scowling deeply in the opposite direction. Koharu stared at the side of his head until he turned to face her, and then spoke quickly to interrupt him.
"I don't want you to get used to me saying sorry or whatever, Bakubrat."
His eyebrows twitched and a vein popped on his forehead. "What kind of shit apology is this?!" He paused, and his furious look became twinged with reluctant curiosity. "What are you talking about anyway? Dumbass."
Shrugging, Koharu turned her gaze skywards once more. "I don't think I'm having a great day, emotional stability wise. But that doesn't mean I should act shitty towards you, even if your jerk-face says you deserve it."
Bakugou looked seconds away from strangling her or lighting her on fire. "Learn to apologize, dumbass! I don't accept your shitty apology."
"You should learn more curse words," Koharu solemnly advised. "It's always 'shitty' this and 'dumbass' that. It's getting kind of repetitive… bitch."
This time, Bakugou didn't resist raising a fist and dropping it onto Koharu's head with a solid bonk. Koharu laughed at the contact before he minutely noogied her and shoved her head away.
"Watch the hair!"
"Like it could get any worse," snarled Bakugou. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and Koharu thought for sure that he would walk away—
But he didn't.
Koharu smiled and tried not to let it go to her head that Katsuki Bakugou just might be her friend.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Present Mic's booming voice suddenly overtook the jabbering noise of the stadium. Standing to attention, Koharu looked up towards the announcer's booth where Present Mic was hidden behind glass. No doubt, Shouta would be there next to him.
"Now that lunch is over, let's finally reveal our last game! But first—"
So much for finally, she thought.
"—there's good news for those of you who didn't make it to our final challenge! After all, this is a Sports Festival! We've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in! Let's all have fun~!"
The large screens stationed around the stadium flicked to life, showcasing a blank tournament template against a white background. A large golden trophy sat temptingly at the top.
"When that's okay, the sixteen competitors from the four winning teams will duke it out tournament style, one-on-one!"
"Now then!" A much quieter voice shouted over the crowd, drawing the attention to Midnight who stood on a small platform with a small yellow box in her hands. She was speaking into a microphone. "Let's draw lots to determine the bracket! Once that's decided, we will have the recreational games and then begin! The finalists can choose whether or not to participate in the recreation, as I'm sure some of you will wish to save your strength. Now, for the first place team…"
"Excuse me!" a hesitant voice called out. Koharu looked to find that it was Ojiro with his hand held in the air. His gaze stayed focused on the ground. "I'm withdrawing."
"What?!" blurted Koharu amidst the cacophony of gasps coming from around her. All eyes were on Ojiro.
"Ojiro, why?!" asked Midoriya as he and Iida turned towards their classmate.
Iida's hands were raised to Ojiro, gesturing wildly. "This is a rare chance for Pros to see you perform!"
Ojiro slowly lowered his hand, eyes still downcast. "I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle. I think it was that guy's Quirk."
Koharu felt as Bakugou's eyes slid towards her, undoubtedly recalling that Koharu had been a part of the same team as Ojiro. She stiffened and pointedly turned her gaze back towards Midnight.
Ojiro continued, "I know that this is a rare chance, and that it's foolish of me to waste it…"
"Ojiro—"
"...but everyone here has competed giving their all!" he said, his voice slowly becoming louder with the force of his conviction. "I can't… I can't go up there with everyone knowing that I haven't done the same!"
"Ojiro, you're thinking too much about it!" came Hagakure's feminine voice. "You should just make sure to give your all in the last round!"
"Yeah, if you say that, then it's like I didn't do anything either," Mina quickly pitched in.
"That's— that's not it," Ojiro stammered. His voice became muffled as he pressed a hand against his face. "I'm talking about my pride here…"
"I'm Nirengeki Shoda from Class B," came another voice from the crowd of students. Koharu felt her stomach drop as she recognized him as the final member from Team Shinsou. "I would like to withdraw for the same reason."
Bakugou's glare was seconds away from searing straight through her skin. A bead of sweat trickled down Koharu's neck. She took great interest in her shoes.
Shoda continued, "Regardless of my ability, doesn't it go against the purpose of this festival for those who didn't do anything to move onto the final round?"
"What's with these guys?! They're so manly!" Kirishima shouted, moved to tears by the two boys' withdrawals. Around them, other students were murmuring their agreement.
Koharu was almost certainly going to be sick. She couldn't raise her head to see everyone around her— all the students that had worked so hard to get to this point and who probably deserved this chance just as much, if not more, than she did. Feeling her stomach turn, Koharu raised her hand to cover it.
A hand clamped around her wrist. Koharu was forced to look up as Bakugou yanked her closer to him to hiss, "Don't even think about withdrawing, idiot."
Koharu's mouth went dry. It felt like her skin was burning beneath his palm, and she wouldn't have been surprised to find that it was true. She nodded dumbly until he released her.
"What a turn of events!" exclaimed Present Mic. "We'll just have to see what the chief umpire has to say about this!"
Even if she wanted to, it was too late for Koharu to back out now. Had she made the right decision in staying quiet? It wasn't like it was a secret that she had been on the same team as the two that had withdrawn, and she was no friend of Shinsou's. She had no way of knowing how she had performed in the second round— were people thinking that she didn't deserve to be there? What was Ojiro thinking of her? She could feel Shouta's eyes on her, she knew that he must be watching her—
"I'm going to kick your ass if you don't stop making that dumbass face," Bakugou suddenly muttered to her from the corner of his mouth.
"Fuck off," she reflexively replied without any heat. When she thought he wasn't looking at her anymore, Koharu raised her fingertips to her cheeks, wondering what her dumb face had looked like.
Everyone else's attention had returned to Midnight, who preened in the spotlight. With one hand, the provocative woman raised her whip into the air. "Youthful talk like that…" her whip cracked through the air as Midnight posed. "...I like it! Shoda! Ojiro! I accept your withdrawal! To keep things even, we'll have to move up two members from the fifth place cavalry team…"
An orange-haired girl from the fifth-place team was quick to speak up. "If that's how it's going to be, rather than us who hardly did a thing during the cavalry battle, you should choose the ones who fought to the end and stayed in the top. And that's Team Tetsutetsu, right?"
"K-Kendo?" stammered Tetsutetsu, his eyes wide and a hand pressed against his chest.
"It just makes sense," the girl— Kendo— responded with a confident smile. Her teammates nodded behind her.
Tetsutetsu looked close to tears. "You… you guys!"
It was quickly decided that Tetsutetsu would move on along with his vine-haired teammate, Shiozaki. Eager to move things along, Midnight ushered the remaining participants forward and demanded for them to pick a card from the yellow box she had brought to the stage. A solid shove to the middle of her back from Bakugou made Koharu one of the first to draw from the box.
"And now, without further adieu— " Midnight declared with a broad sweep of her whip towards the largest screen in the stadium. "These are the brackets!"
The stadium went wild. The contestants around her began to exclaim over their match-ups, but it was static to her ears. Koharu's attentions was locked onto the screen. The noise of the crowd faded out with the last of her doubts. Fate had smiled upon her, and Koharu smiled back.
Round One:
Koharu Aizawa vs. Hitoshi Shinsou
chapter end
I know not everything makes sense yet but y'know, *Shouta voice* just trust me
I have most of the next chapter written already, because canon obviously gets wibbly-wobbly from here on out and original content is way more fun to write. I'm looking forward to finally finally finally exploring Koharu's history through more than just a million allusions that people can only pick up on with a second read.
This story now has more than 100 reviews (102 to be exact) and I'm just ;-; thank you all so much for your support and feedback.
St. Allesia — Shouta is actually allergic to Koharu and that's why he's always crying around her, he sWEARS OKAY?
Forever Stargazing — Thank you so, so much! I will definitely keep going, especially with readers like you to motivate me xo
thumbdash05 — AHHHHHH THANK YOU! I love writing baby Koharu and I hope I give myself more opportunities to do so in the future.
M — wb! Shouta and Koharu both just need a real big hug, and who better to provide that than each other? I'm so glad you're still enjoying this story! xo
MayNura — you make my heart so happy!