Happy one year anniversary, Wannabe Heroes! I feel that I've grown a lot as a writer in the past twelve months, and I hope that it shows in Act II. To celebrate, there is also new cover art for Act II! I'm really not much of an artist (so please don't look too closely at it and see all my mistakes eeeeep) but I'm proud of how it turned out :)

Chapters will probably slow down again for a while, as unfortunately my lease is ending so my partner and I have to find somewhere new to live, which is very stressful and expensive and hard to manage while also working full-time ;-; being an adult SUCKS yo. To make up for it, this chapter is more than double the length of a usual chapter. Shall we escape into some teenage drama?

Act II

Chapter Thirty-One: If These Ghosts—

Under Double-Punch's instruction, Sango had made swift work of sweeping Koharu back down the street she had come from. Her hands avoided the heaviest of bandages closer to the teen's hands and wrists, instead guiding the girl forward with a firm palm pressed against the middle of her back. Without her sports jacket, she could easily feel the heat of Sango's touch through her wrappings.

Once so chatty, Sango was surprisingly unreceptive to conversation as she walked Koharu back to school. Such things mattered little to Koharu, who babbled on without response.

"Are you a hero? I've never seen someone like you before. You said we've met before— when? I don't remember you at all, and I like to think that I've got a pretty good memory, y'know. How long have you known Double-Punch? Do you think she liked me? Is she going to become a teacher at U.A?! That would be so cool—"

"Some things never change," Sango sighed. She side-eyed Koharu flatly. "You never knew how to shut your mouth when you were a kid, either. It's comforting to see how much you've matured."

Koharu felt her cheeks heat into a blush. "I—I'm super mature—" shit, do grown-ups say super?! "So… whatever. Shut up!"

"Ha!" Sango barked a laugh. "Wow, you sure showed me, little sister."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Koharu bit back, frustration edging into her voice. "I'm not your little sister, lady. You can call me Aizawa, alright?"

Sango hummed in response, and Koharu looked up to see her eyes twinkling. The older woman winked unashamedly as they caught eyes. "I can call you whatever you want me to, Aizawa."

Her name had never felt like such a taunt before. Koharu's bottom lip pushed out into a pout, and she turned away with a huff. Still, Sango had listened to her— something most of the people in Koharu's life seemed to struggle with when it came to her name. "Thank you. Even if you didn't answer my question..."

"You're welcome," sing-songed Sango. "To celebrate our meeting again, I'll answer one question. Choose wisely."

Koharu sputtered, "Only one?!" Frantically, she waved her bandaged hands in Sango's face. "A-and that didn't count! Shit, okay…" she paused, but the answer came quickly. "Can you tell me how you know me? You act like you know me pretty well…"

Sango waved a dismissive hand in the air. "I wouldn't say that," she said. "It's been more than a decade since we last saw each other. We met when I would come over to see your brother— your parents didn't want you bothering us, but that never really stopped you." She laughed, her eyes staring forward to watch a memory Koharu couldn't see. "The first time we really spoke, you called me a 'big dummy'. I guess you didn't think I should be hanging out with Shouta."

As she spoke, Sango reached over and ruffled Koharu's hair. Shocked by the gesture and the familiar use of her brother's name, Koharu didn't stop her. "You've always been a smart girl," Sango finished with a smile and a fond chuckle as she dropped her hand from Koharu's head.

"I'm sorry, but I still don't remember you," Koharu reluctantly admitted. "Were you Shouta's girlfriend or something?"

"Ah, ah!" Sango tutted and poked her tongue out at Koharu. "I said I'd answer one question, and I've done so rather generously, I'd say."

Begrudgingly, Koharu conceded to her point, and the two walked forward in silence. Sango and Shouta's history didn't matter to her either way, she told herself— even if the two had been in a relationship, it was clearly over before Koharu came into Shouta's care, and Koharu didn't really want to be thinking about her brother anyway.

She could never outrun her thoughts.

As the walls surrounding the U.A. campus came into view, Koharu's legs suddenly weighed too much to take another step forward. Koharu stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, Sango pausing a step later. The woman turned to her with a question in her eyes.

"Sorry," choked Koharu. "I just—"

She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to face her friends. She didn't want to face Shouta. All she wanted was to stay with Double-Punch and Sango, frozen in a time and place where a Pro-Hero could acknowledge her, promising that she would never be a loser again, and Koharu could believe it.

Sango stepped in front of Koharu with an understanding smile. "Hey, Aizawa," she said with a gentle pat atop of Koharu's head. "Where did all that chatter go? You should talk as much as you want with me. I'm a great listener, you should know."

Koharu sniffled at Sango's kind words and stubbornly ignored the welling of tears in her eyes. With a shake of her head, her hair tumbled to cover her traitorous eyes. "Why? I don't smell any flowers," she said, the accusation rolling off her tongue rather than one of the confessions balancing on the tip of her tongue.

Sango's smile grew. "Always so smart," she quietly repeated with a shake of her head. "You're right, I'm not using my Compel on you. It's okay if you want to talk to me anyway." A careful hand brushed the hair from Koharu's face to tuck it behind her ear. "I won't force you, and I'm not here to judge you. But I can't help you unless you tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours, okay?"

She hesitated. Sango was no better than a stranger but…

Koharu had always wondered what it would be like to have a big sister—

Before she knew it, the words were pouring out. "I can't go back there," she confessed. "I'm... embarrassed. No matter what anyone said, I shouldn't have lost. I should have beaten Shinsou, and I hate that I didn't. I hate him. I hate his face. I can't believe I didn't punch his teeth in while I had the chance!"

Sango was silent, her expression betraying nothing but a calm understanding despite Koharu's bitter words. With growing fervor, Koharu continued,

"I just don't know how I can face everyone after what happened. I'm always running my mouth and saying I'm going to beat everyone, and now I just look like an idiot! Everyone must think I'm so stupid! That I'm weak! In fact, I know they're thinking it, because I'm thinking it too!" Pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, Koharu took in a deep, shuddering breath.

As she lowered her hands, she contemplated the bandages wrapped around them. "What I did today— against Shinsou, when I nearly blew my hands off, I've never done anything like that before," she admitted. "It was scary, and I don't think I actually expected it to work, but then…"

Bakugou's red eyes.

"This guy— my friend, kinda? Y'know, he saved me before, at U.S.J., and I guess I just thought… maybe he could do it again?" Koharu began to fumble over her words, only realizing her feelings as she spoke them aloud. "He's always snapping at me, so he has this really annoying way of breaking me out of my head all the time. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he did it again. And, y'know, he actually hates to lose even more than I do, which is a lot, so he's going to be super pissed off that I used his Quirk and still lost…"

She trailed off, remembering the press of Bakugou's hand around her wrist, the rumble of his voice as he told her not to withdraw, and those furious red eyes. Koharu bit her lip, imagining those same eyes filled not with their usual misguided rage, but disappointment. Disgust. She was used to his anger, relished in infuriating him, even, but—

"You shouldn't worry so much about what people think about you," Sango's smooth voice interrupted her train of thought, and Koharu looked up to meet the woman's confident smile. "You'll be much happier for it. No one who matters is going to think any less of you, and screw 'em if they do," she said with a shrug. "Besides, you're a tough kid, and you went out in a literal blaze of glory. No one was even looking at that schmuck that actually won your match. The results don't matter, the performance does. Double-Punch chose you."

When Sango's hand squeezed her shoulders, Koharu felt the pressure on her heart.

"That said, you'll show them all next year when you win the whole tournament," Sango said as she returned her hand to her side. "You heard the boss. Her girls aren't losers, and now you're one of us. And that means you aren't a loser! Right?"

Koharu was absolutely not going to cry. "R— right!" she blubbered through her choked tears.

"Of course, this all depends on if you actually want to work with us. You do, don't you?"

The warm feeling of Sango and Double-Punch's belief swelled in Koharu's chest, contrasting sharply against the lingering pain left by Shouta's doubt. "I do," she slowly, quietly agreed. "But…"

It was an unsettling, cold feeling to know she was taking another step closer to her predestined future. She remembered Aoi's premonition, she remembered the scar across her face just like Sango's, and she remembered the distinct lack of her pink Eraserhead-inspired goggles.

Was taking a step closer to Sango equivalent to taking a step away from Shouta? Was Koharu surpassing him, or was she abandoning him?

If the future was already set, would anything she did matter either way?

Koharu flinched as something sharply contacted her forehead. She raised her gaze to Sango's unimpressed look, the woman's finger still extended from where she had flicked Koharu's forehead.

"Get out of your head. Talk to me," Sango said. "I can't help until you do. What's stopping you, Aizawa?"

Koharu's breath stuttered, and her words poured forth unbridled. "Shouta told me to throw the tournament, right before the match," was her last confession. Guilt blooming, Koharu dropped her eyes to hide from Sango's reaction as the woman took a sharp inhale of breath. "We had a fight. I think he knew that something like that explosion would happen to me. He wouldn't tell me why, but he was really serious about it. I didn't want to listen to him, but… I don't know, maybe I did? Shouta always knows what to do, and I guess— I don't know… I don't know! I feel like everyone knows me better than I do myself, and I don't know anything anymore. Everything is a mess, and I just feel so angry all the time..."

Her eyes were watering again, and Koharu pressed her hands against them fruitlessly. She felt the moisture against her bandages grow as she struggled to compose herself, her shoulders shaking. A moment later, Koharu was surrounded by the smell of cigarettes and rose petals as Sango dropped her jacket over Koharu's head like a hood.

"Your brother is a dick and an asshole," Sango said stiffly, startling a watery giggle from Koharu. "Someone needs to have some serious words with him, and I'll see to it that someone does. He's your teacher. It wasn't appropriate for him to single you out like that."

Koharu's stomach twisted uneasily, starting to wonder if she should have said anything at all. She had never wanted to get Shouta into any trouble, and she was sure he didn't deserve it. "I'm sure he had reasons…" she weakly defended as she tugged Sango's jacket further over her face.

Sango looked at her sternly. "Whatever his reasons were, they aren't good enough for me, and it's okay if they aren't good enough for you, either. You're allowed to be upset with him, Aizawa. He's not infallible." Sango sighed, and shook her head. "I've changed my mind; hair-care will be lesson two. Lesson one is right now, and it's simple: never let a man tell you what you can or cannot do. Got it?"

Koharu opened her dumb mouth immediately: "What about women?"

Sango's serious expression broke with a chuckle at Koharu's response. "If I tell you that, then you're not going to take any of my advice, are you? And that would kinda ruin the whole point of trying to teach you anything. But, Aizawa—" her solemn expression renewed, Sango leaned down to meet Koharu's eyes on her level. "I know I can be kind of intimidating, but I'm never going to ask you to do anything that you don't want to do. It's important to me that you know that."

Koharu bit her lip. "You were using your Quirk on me before, when you first approached me. And again, when I started to freak out—"

"You're right, I did," acknowledged Sango. "You looked about ready to run again, and I couldn't let you do that. But you've already figured me out, and you said it yourself that you can take care of yourself, right?"

"I can," she slowly agreed. Her brow furrowing, Koharu shrugged off Sango's jacket and held it out to the other woman. "Of course I can. I'm fine."

"That's not what I meant, Aizawa. You don't have to lie to me about that," Sango softly replied, her words stinging Koharu's eyes. "But you'll be okay eventually." Her hand reached out, and she pushed Koharu's hand until the jacket pressed against the teenager's chest. "Until then, it's okay to rely on others, okay? There are people here for you, and I'm not just talking about myself. It's okay to open up to people. You're never going to be left behind again."

Koharu was absolutely not crying. A passing rain cloud had surely opened up on her face, and the rain rolled unrepentant down her cheeks.

With a smile, Sango reached out and grabbed the jacket to help Koharu slide it on. The fabric fit comfortably over her body, the sleeves ending just low enough on her hands to obscure the heaviest of her bandaging from view. Koharu felt the heat of the sun against her shoulders through the heavy material, and the heat was warm enough to mistake for an embrace.

"Why—" Koharu looked up at Sango, hoping that her eyes expressed the gratitude she didn't know the words for. "Why are you helping me?"

Her smile growing bitter, Sango reached out and ran her thumb along the skin under Koharu's right eye. She wiped away a tear that had fallen there. "You looked like you needed it."

Koharu resisted the pull of a frown on her lips as she recognized Sango's expression, the same one people always wore when they looked at her and saw someone else. She wondered who Sango saw. She wondered who her ghosts were, and if one of them was her brother. For the first time, she looked at the woman before her and wondered if Sango was one of his.

"Anyway, you really need to get back to your class before more people realize that you're gone," said Sango as she stepped backwards with an easy smile erasing the memories from her face. "Your teachers aren't going to be happy if they notice that you're missing, if they haven't already. There'll be a better time and place for our conversation. I trust you can make it back from here on your own?"

"I'm not going to run away when you're gone, if that's what you're suggesting," Koharu quietly replied.

Sango nodded. "Good girl," she said. Already, she began to walk away with a wave over her shoulder. "Take care of that jacket until we meet again, alright?" Sango's bright eyes glinted as she looked back over her shoulders. "It's a Double-Punch original, and it's fire-resistant! I hope that's enough proof for your Bingo game!"

Koharu gasped, her eyes sliding down to her chest as her bandaged hands patted against the material of the jacket. Sango was right— it was the same jacket that Double-Punch wore for her debut nearly two decades earlier. It was probably worth more money than Koharu would ever see in her life, and Sango had given it to her like it was nothing.

By the time Koharu looked up to thank her, Sango was already gone.

xox

Koharu was walking on clouds as she made her return to the Sports Stadium. With Double-Punch's jacket wrapped around her body, she felt invincible. Koharu had almost forgotten that she was supposed to be scared of her classmates' reactions.

And then she ran into Bakugou on her way up, and Koharu's happy bubble popped.

"You!" Bakugou snarled, aggressively pointing a finger her way, as though Koharu would mistake who he meant in the empty hallway. "Get over here!"

"No thanks," squeaked Koharu, already backpedalling away. "I actually forgot that I have to go to the bathroom, so if you'll excuse me—"

Bakugou reached for the collar of Koharu's jacket, pulling her backwards as she sought desperate escape. "Not so fast," he hissed before whirling her around to face him. "What the fuck was that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Koharu innocently replied, her words betrayed by her inability to meet Bakugou's eyes.

"Don't play dumb!" Bakugou shouted, using his grip on her collar to give her a quick shake. "You know what I'm talking about, shittyface!" He punctuated his words by shoving her back hard against the wall.

Koharu looked down to where Bakugou's hands were now fisted in the material of her jacket, his knuckles pressed just beneath her collarbone. "The jacket's actually a loaner, so do you think you could be gentle for once—"

Bakugou smacked his palms loudly against the wall on either side of her head. With a scowl, he leaned down to crowd into her space, invading her vision with those terrible red eyes. "Idiot," he said firmly. "Stop avoiding me." His hands sparked against the concrete, filling their noses with smoke.

The pounding of her heart was loud enough to drown out the buzzing in her ears. Koharu hoped that years of using his Quirk had left Bakugou with enough hearing loss that he couldn't hear it.

"I don't have to tell you anything," Koharu responded with a confidence she sure as hell didn't feel. "I'm not avoiding you, or anyone else. I just had things to do. You're acting even more full of yourself than usual, Bakubrat."

She hadn't realized that his scowl could grow any deeper. Koharu wondered if Bakugou could make his head explode, because his eyes looked ready to ignite.

"You're not avoiding me," he repeated with a tone of furious disbelief. "You're a real shitty liar, Aizawa."

Koharu rolled her eyes. "I thought you didn't care, Bakugou."

As if by command, Bakugou stepped away from her at once. "I don't," he said roughly and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Already, he was walking away from her— and then just as fast, he paused. His head turned over his shoulder, eyes hidden under his spiky hair. "The next time you even think about using my Quirk, you won't have to worry about it killing you. I'll do it first, you got that?"

It was probably supposed to sound like a threat, Koharu thought. But it certainly didn't feel like one.

Bakugou turned his head back sharply, and resumed stomping away. "Let's go, dumbass."

Koharu followed him with a smile.

Bakugou and Koharu made their way through the hallways and up stairs, with Bakugou silently leading the way ahead. Although he sped up whenever Koharu tried to match his step, he would also slow down whenever she did. He was never more or less than three paces ahead of her.

"Softie," Koharu mumbled under her breath as she grinned at the slump of Bakugou's shoulders.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing~!"

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Bakugou turned sharply towards an archway. Koharu could hear the familiar voices of their classmates over the chittering of the crowd, and subconsciously her feet began to slow. With a loud grumble, Bakugou reached back and dragged her through the archway.

A body slammed into her own the second they stepped through, nearly pushing Koharu straight back into the hall. All she saw was spiky red hair as Kirishima's large arms wrapped around her torso and pulled her into the air. He began lovingly squeezing all the air from her lungs.

"Ouch," she pointedly wheezed, to which Kirishima instantly dropped her with an apologetic grimace.

"Where have you been?" he was immediately scolding, his hands hovering around her head down and to her arms. "No one saw you in Recovery Girl's office. I was starting to think that you went to the hospital instead."

Koharu was wilting with guilt. "Sorry, Kirishima. I didn't mean to worry you. Did you win your match?"

Now it was Kirishima's turn to look guilty. His eyes glanced towards Bakugou, who had grumpily moved on to seat himself without her. "Actually, about that—"

"Haru!" came a whining voice before Mina was pinned to her side. "I was so worried about you! You looked so awful!"

"Gee, thanks—"

Uraraka was next to join them, her hands reaching out towards Koharu. "Oh no, Koharu, your hair!"

"Damn. Is it really that bad?" Koharu asked, starting to feel self-conscious with all the digs about her appearance that day. She resisted reaching up to touch her hair, not wanting to draw anymore attention to it—

"Where did you get that jacket from?" Midoriya asked as he came up behind Uraraka.

The group around her looked down, and now all the attention was on the jacket, rather than her hair. Thanks, Midoriya, she sarcastically thought.

"Were you with someone, Koharu?" Uraraka was the first to ask, eyeing the jacket with uncertainty.

Mina was sniffing her. "And were you smoking?"

Iida stood abruptly, arms already swinging into a finger-waggle to scold his vice-president for setting such a terrible example. Not eager for another lecture, Koharu quickly spoke up before him.

"It's just my burnt flesh that you're smelling," she claimed as she pulled away from Mina's intrusive nose. She itched to back out and run away from the attention, but she had promised Sango that she would stay. "Enough about me— aren't we supposed to be watching someone fight right now?"

"The next match is starting any minute," Kirishima responded with a sharp look around him, already guiding Koharu to a corner seat and out of the spotlight like the saving grace he was. Like they had all received the same unspoken memo, her friends dispersed with only vague grumbling. Koharu didn't miss their craning heads as they returned to their seats, undoubtedly still curious about what had happened to her and making no attempts to hide their eavesdropping.

As they sat, Kirishima continued on to explain, "Tokoyami is about to go up against that green-haired girl from Class 1-B, Ibara. After that, it'll be the final four."

Koharu slumped into her seat with a sigh. "Shit, I guess I really did miss a lot… who's moving on so far?"

"Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugou," Kirishima answered as he listed off his fingers. "And then whoever wins this match will be the fourth. Personally, my bet is on Tokoyami."

"I'm not taking that bet. Tokoyami only ever lost to us because we managed to catch him off-guard." Koharu paused, and reconsidered. "Then again, I haven't seen Ibara fight before, and y'know, us girls have to stick together and all that..."

"No way," Kirishima rejected with a shake of his head. "You've got to have to class-pride, right? And don't you sit next to Tokoyami? Doesn't that count for anything?"

Koharu hummed thoughtfully before shrugging her shoulders. "Nah, girl power. I'll bet lunch on Ibara."

"Sweet! A free meal!" Kirishima happily exclaimed. He dodged the elbow Koharu threw his way with a cheery smile. "What's up with the 'girl power' attitude, though? I've never known you to throw away a bet for something like that before."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Sharkface." Koharu shot her friend a dirty look before she straightened up and looked ahead. "Just watch the match. We'll see who owes who lunch."

Not a moment after she had finished talking, Koharu felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She had retrieved it after returning to campus, and it had been unsurprising to see a large number of missed calls and texts from her brother. Koharu had considered turning her phone off, but she had instead sent the man a selfie for his sanity before temporarily blocking his number for her own.

Pulling the device from her pocket, Koharu unlocked the screen to see that she had received two new messages.

Mi-Mi-Midoriya

So… is Double-Punch as cool in person?

(¬‿¬ )

Midoriya had recognized the jacket after all. Koharu bit her lip as she read the message again, trying not to smile too widely at her screen. She should have known that nothing would get by that observant little bastard.

Looking up, she caught Midoriya's eye from where he sat with Uraraka. Her lips split into a smile, and he mirrored her with clear relief. Aware of all the eyes and ears around them, Koharu mouthed 'later', and waited for Midoriya's nod before she returned her attention to the stadium, where Tokoyami and Ibara were beginning to approach the stage.

A few moments later, her phone buzzed again.

Mi-Mi-Midoriya

I beat Shinsou. I know you would have rather done it yourself, but I hit him extra hard for you! Q(`⌒´Q) I was thinking of you when I won. I hope that's okay. And I'm happy you're okay.

Mi-Mi-Midoriya is typing...

The message was so long and came so quickly, there was no way he couldn't have already drafted it before sending his first texts through. Why had Midoriya been waiting to text her? Was it because he wanted to see her reaction? Was he looking at her? What was her face supposed to be doing?

Koharu stared down at her screen with her heart thumping in her ears, only vaguely aware of Present Mic's voice as it began to boom throughout the stadium, the roaring of the crowd drowning out the buzzing of her phone with another incoming message.

Mi-Mi-Midoriya

There's something I need to talk to you about. Can I walk you home?

"Are you ready!? Let's start!"

chapter end

WeirdoFanGirl4637 — "badass queens" was absolutely the vibe I was going for, thank you! And thanks for your review! xo

M — if you didn't like the Shouta-bashing last chapter, then you must have hated this one with it! You picked up all my favourite hints from the last chapter, which makes me happy. Thanks for your review! xo

thumbdash05 — I laughed a lot at your first review (and showed it off to my partner), and thank you for coming back to leave a second! Tbh, I hadn't even thought about that possibility. You guys are really smarter than me sometimes. Thanks for the idea!