Chapter Twenty Four: The Black Cat

"So..."

"So."

Depressed auras hung around Kaminari and Kirishima. In unison, the duo turned to look at each other, exchanging worried glances.

"We can't go for training camp if we fail the exams, huh…"

"I just wanna play truth or dare with the class!" Even Mina seemed more distressed than usual as she groaned out loud. Her feet dragged along the pavement as they walked on towards the station.

Seeing her normally chipper friends so drained made her feel uneasy, of sorts. Her fingers fumbled together as she opened her mouth, wondering if there was anything she could do to improve the mood.

"There's still time," Morie settled on pointing out softly. "Let's study hard and go to camp together!"

The dark-haired girl did not express her own excitement at the camp, though the truth was she badly wanted to go as well. Considering her distaste towards her classmates from her previous schools, she had never bothered attending any of the school events, though with Class 1-A, it was different. Embarrassing as it was to admit, this class meant the world to her, and she found herself wanting to spend time with them more and more.

Mina tackled her from behind, her voice now bordering on a wail. "But Morie-chaaan! My grades are so bad!"

Morie rubbed the back of her neck, turning a tad bit red at her friend's close proximity. Gently, her hand lifted itself to place it on Mina's soft pink hair.

"I'm not very qualified to help you," she admitted, now petting Mina on the back. Her expression soured as she recalled her own dismal 10th placing in class. "But I could try to help you out as much as I can. Though I think you should probably find someone in class to tutor you, like Momo-san."

"Man," Kirishima, overhearing the conversation, commented offhandedly. He turned around to catch her eye, a small frown on his lips. "Feels a bit weird, though, approaching Yaoyorozu only when I need help. Think I'll have to pass on that."

"That's fair," Morie nodded, understanding where he was coming from. On a whole, Kirishima was a very respectful person; he would hate to come across as the least bit opportunistic even though she was sure that the kind-hearted 'Yaomomo' would not mind teaching others at all. She shifted slightly, precarious balancing Mina who was still slung over her back.

It was then did her dark eyes land on spiky blond hair not too far away from them, and an idea struck her like lightning.

"Kiri, I think you're forgetting that you're friends with that smart guy over there." Her finger jabbed itself towards the Bakugou's direction - he was currently stalking along by himself towards the station, his permanent scowl etched on his features. Not exactly walking with them, but not exactly by himself, either.

The red-haired boy piped up almost immediately, and a bright grin spread over his face contagiously.

"Yo, Blasty!" Kirishima called out, going over and slinging his arm over Bakugou, before promptly dragging him to join their group. "Dude, I wanted to ask if, uh…"

"Tch," Mr Spiky Hair sent him a hard, flat look; he almost moved to shake off the arm around him but seemed to relent a little. "What? Just spit it out, you shitty hair-for-brains!"

Over his shoulder, the Hardening user sent Morie a wide-eyed look, and she could immediately tell that he still felt bad asking someone else for favours just like that. 'Just do it, it's okay!' She mouthed back, sending him a thumbs-up. 'For the training camp!'

Slowly Kirishima nodded, and seemed to steel himself up on the inside.

"Could you help tutor me for the upcoming exams? I'll repay you somehow, I swear!" The red-haired boy retracted his hand to clap them together, sending Bakugou his best pleading look.

"What the hell?" Bakugou stated, and Kirishima waited with bated breath for the Explosion user's response. His red eyes narrowed as his face scrunched up for just a moment, before falling back into his usual impassive expression. "Whatever, I don't really give a shit."

"Thanks man!" A grin spread across Kirishima's face, and he pumped his fists into the air. Suddenly he turned towards her with an expectant grin. "Thanks too, Rie-san! You should come join us too!"

Mildly taken aback, Morie snuck an uneasy glance at Bakugou. She held up her arms in defense as she blurted out in almost automatic denial. "Sorry man, think I'll pass. It's up to Bakugou, anyway."

"Do I look like a goddamn charity?" The ash blonde bit out, sticking his hands in his pockets. He looked up, meeting her dark, curious gaze with narrowed eyes. Then his tongue clicked itself in what she supposed was annoyance. "Do whatever you want."

(Believe it or not, she did consider joining them - after all, her grades were less than stellar on paper. As much as Morie was sure she could handle the exams on her own this time, she wondered if stubbornly rejecting help would be the cause of her downfall.)

Morie looked away from Mr Spiky Hair, turning her attention towards the red-haired boy next to him.

"I'll think about it," she told him with a slight shrug. A poke in her shoulder made her jump a little, as she looked over at Mina who was shooting her a devious grin, her shiny black eyes glimmering in mischief.

"A secret rendezvous with two boys, Morie-chan, how scandalous!" The bubblegum pink girl stage-whispered into her ear. "I didn't know you had it in you!"

Morie blinked as the implications sank in, and her face suddenly flushed a steaming red as she flailed to cover her face.

"Don't say that," she protested indignantly as the pink girl promptly broke out into uncontrollable cackles, smacking Morie across the back causing her to sputter even more.

"Oh my gosh, you totally look like a tomato! It's kinda adorable," the pink girl poked at her red cheeks, ignoring her flustered outcry.

Desperately wanting to hide in a hole, Morie could only hope that the commotion had gone unheard by the duo walking in front of her. Judging by their unusual silence though, it was safe to say they were just sparing her the humiliation, for the red that tinged Kirishima's ears was a dead giveaway.

Damn it.

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(*´-`*)

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It was the last week before final exams.

Morie was… kind of holding up. She had already finished covering the content for the exams and was now focusing on reviewing her work and doing timed practices. She woke up early in the morning for physical conditioning, afternoons after school were saved for studying, while her evenings were saved for quirk training (aka Project ART) within the safety of her home.

Needless to say, her vigorous schedule was exhausting, but Morie comforted herself at the knowledge that she only needed to keep this up for one more week. She had been heartened at the progress she had made thus far - she was no longer struggling with her timed practices and was more able to tackle challenging questions. Call her a nerd, but studying was a lot more enjoyable when she could actually comprehend what was going on.

Quickly grading the paper she was doing, Morie tallied her marks before moving to highlight the questions she had gotten wrong. Some errors were straightforward and were simply careless mistakes, for others she just kind of stared a bit, too sapped to think as she wondered what went wrong. After finally reviewing (most of) her mistakes, the girl let out a yawn and called it a day; after using some eyedrops, she went to give her face a quick wash. Clambering downstairs, she could hear pots and pan clanging, the telltale signs that her father was making dinner.

'I'm going out for a quick run!' Morie announced out loud in her head, knowing that Chika would hear her. Grabbing her phone and her earbuds, she hurriedly did some stretches before stepping out of her house.

There was without a doubt that the weights she wore was what made her training regimen that much harder. Now at six kilos, her weight made every single action tiring, especially when she was trying to improve her run timing. Her muscles ached from the pure effort alone; she banned herself from using her quirk to help her when running as a testament to her determination to gain more stamina physically.

A scowl flashed across her face. Normally the night breeze was cool and pleasing, but today there was a stifling humidness which hung in the air.

'It's probably going to rain soon, then,' the thought flickered through her mind for a second before she opened her phone to start up her jogging playlist - a series of her favorite punk tunes with a strong beat that made the whole running process less painful.

As Morie approached the school area of town, she instinctively broke out into a sprint. Sakurazawa and Aldera Middle School faded away in the background as the dark-haired girl didn't spare her old shitty school a second glance.

Dark almond eyes caught sight of a small stagnant pond outside Oridera, and her mind flashed back to the day Midoriya's notebook fell out of the sky and nearly became fish feed. The day she first meddled into business that had nothing at all to do with her. She looked away, deciding not to dwell on the past, instead focusing her attention on some nearby apartment buildings.

I wonder where Midoriya lives, actually. I've never bumped into him before.

She ran past the old neighborhood park, where the sandpits and swings were empty save for a mother and her young child. The peace and quiet was appealing to her, unlike the times when she was a kid where it would without fail, be filled with screaming unruly kids.

By the time Morie made it back to her house, it was already getting late. 'I guess time really does fly by when you are having fun,' she rolled her eyes at herself, checking her distance and timing as she wiped off her face with a towel.

It seemed she had a visitor, however. A familiar black cat was curled up in front of her house, looking up at the gate almost expectantly.

"Hello," she couldn't help but coo softly. As soon as the cat caught sight of her, he promptly lay down on his back, rolling around with his belly exposed. "Wait here, okay?"

Morie hurried into the house, where she grabbed a water bottle and a can of cat food. She helped herself to some water before heading back outside, looking around for the cat.

Kuro-chan had wandered further down the street, only stopping when Morie called out to him. Hurrying over, she giggled softly as the cat's tail swished about, tickling the back of her legs. Opening the canned food, she poured in water minutely, giving the food a mix before she set it down on the road.

The cat helped itself to the food heartily. After letting the cat sniff her hand, Morie played with the cat for a little, occasionally getting little heart attacks as the cat's eyes flashed a bright luminescent green from the lack of light. Evidently, Kuro-chan was in a chipper mood, for normally it would just eat and run off.

"Who's a good boy," she smiled, scratching the cat's head as he closed his eyes, purring in contentment. Eventually he clambered over her lap as Morie blinked as he curled up, eventually lulling off into sleep as she softly scratched his back.

The brown-haired girl stared at the black cat, feeling content as she took in the night around her - she felt sleepy herself, as she slowly stroked the cat behind his ears. Thus was the life of an unashamed cat-lover.

Maybe I should text dad, tell him I'll be coming back a bit late. Then again, I'm sure he knows I'm still with Kuro-chan.

Footsteps shuffled down the street then, and she sensed a figure walking in her direction. She could spot that spiky blonde hair from a mile away, even in the dim lighting of the street lamps.

"Hey, Bakugou," Morie greeted softly as he came into view - his book bag resting on his shoulders told her that he had been studying outside.

The aforementioned boy stopped in his tracks, crimson eyes silently glaring at her. He tugged off his earphones roughly.

"The fuck are you doing," the look of uncharacteristic judgement that crossed his features nearly made her laugh out loud.

Morie merely shrugged.

"I'm just petting a cat," she stated, almost rolling her eyes. 'Not exactly rocket science.' She continued on as per normal - it seemed that Kuro-chan was beginning to stir. "I guess this is my life now..."

Bakugou froze as the cat shifted around in her lap, now awake. It seemed to be regarding Bakugou with a sort of unabashed interest, while Bakugou was staring back at it with narrowed red eyes, looking almost wary.

Feeling very much confused, Morie looked between the two, wondering why the hell they were having an impromptu staring contest.

"Uh," she started. "Do you want to pet him? His name is Kuro-chan - he's your dad's favorite cat."

"Hell no," the blonde bit back almost immediately, just as the cat stood up on her lap, kneading her thighs as if it was baking bread. Then it climbed out, calmly walking towards Bakugou, who stood rooted in his spot, eyes still glaring harshly at the cat's every movement.

Kuro-chan mewled. He nuzzled his head against Bakugou's leg, casually stepping over his shoes before rolling over his feet so his belly was exposed.

"Kuro-chan, you're such a hoe." Morie mock-sighed, feeling somewhat abandoned, before climbing up from where she sat at last. Her hands moved to brushed the black fur off her running shorts.

The cat seemed to like Bakugou immensely, which surprised her as she had only known it to be friendly to her and Masaru-san. Perhaps Bakugou's scent reminded the cat of his father?

For the lack of a better way to describe it, Bakugou looked painfully conflicted. He stiffened as the cat roughly bumped its head into his leg, only staring on almost dumbfounded as the cat continued to nuzzle up to him.

Morie blinked in disbelief.

Bakugou Katsuki, the most angry person alive, was unbelievably awkward around animals.

... wow.

"He's gonna follow you around if you don't pet him, you know."

There were a few moments of silence, before Bakugou suddenly squatted down, still squinting at the cat as if it was some sort of alien. Hand reached out almost gingerly, the boy stiffly patted the black cat's head once, twice, before he rose back up to his feet, turning to trudge back to his house without another word.

Even the cat looked confused. Kuro-chan stared after the ash blonde for a bit, green eyes seemingly wide with wonder before proceeding to groom itself. It eventually wandered off, no longer paying attention to the other human in the vicinity.

(Thus came the story of how Morie found out that Bakugou Katsuki was secretly a cat person.)

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(^・ω・^ )(^・ω・^ )(^・ω・^ )

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Now she was staring up at the ceiling, trying to find the willpower to sit out of bed.

After sleeping past her alarm set at seven in the morning, she now found herself feeling lazier and groggier than ever. It was only the first day of their study break - Morie groaned as she pushed herself off her bed, sweeping her dark hair back and out of her face. She stretched a little and winced as she felt her joints crack.

Alright, no working out today. The soreness was a bit too much to handle; she was going to have to take a day off to massage and stretch herself properly. No way was she going to risk any muscle injuries when the exams were right around the corner, especially when that risk was so heightened with the weights she now wore. Bleary-eyed, the dark-haired girl managed to climb out of bed and wander downstairs, only to find her father sitting at the dining table alone.

"Ah, did I miss mom?" Disappointment hit her as the sight of the emptier-than-usual dining table met her eyes - her mother had been working longer as of late, something that she suspected had to do with the Hero Killer's and how that alone had inspired an entire string of crimes.

"Yeah," Chika responded, glancing up at her. His eyes glinted and she frowned at him, immediately knowing that her father was up to something. "Sooo I sensed that you're a bit tired of studying today - mind going for a quick grocery run? We're all out, unless you want to eat cereal for breakfast."

Morie blinked furtively before shrugging. "As long as I can get milk."

After all, what kind of monster ate cereal without milk?

(Just kidding.)

"Whatever you want, Mori," her dad grinned, waving his phone at her. "Just sent you the grocery list by Wattsapp, by the way. Take my wallet." His black leather wallet promptly hovered down into her hand.

"Sure, sure," she shoved the wallet into her shorts pocket. "Just lemme clean up first."

Ten minutes later, decked out in a comfy shirt and shorts, Morie was out by the nearest supermarket. It felt calming, being able to do something relatively mundane for once, as she picked off the items Chika requested for off the shelves one by one.

'That's a shit ton of butter and flour, is dad planning to bake something?' The brown-haired girl wondered briefly. With a pause, she casually added a bag of Mylo powder into her basket, before grabbing her favourite brand of deluxe, non-diluted milk from the dairy section. After everything on Chika's list had been accounted for, Morie then called her father as she stared intently at the pack of eggs she was holding.

"Hey, dad - so eggs are one-for-one. You interested?"

"The usual brand?" Her father's voice questioned, and Morie made a noise of assent. "Sure, we can just chuck them in the fridge."

Walking past the payment counters, Morie stared at the Solanpass that were displayed at the side, the go-to product for muscle aches. She vaguely remembered her mother returning home with a sore shoulder, while Chika had complained of a neck ache the other day (undoubtedly from looking at his phone too much.)

Seizing a pack, she placed it into her shopping basket, mentally reminding herself to slip the money back in her father's wallet later. Handing the cashier her own cloth bag, Morie quickly paid for her purchases and began the trip home.

In front of her, a small mousy-featured woman was struggling to carry her trolley up the stairs. After watching her for a moment, Morie slung her own grocery bag onto her forearm, before hurrying towards the woman.

"May I help you with that?"

The woman looked up - for some reason, she looked oddly familiar. Maybe it was the greenish hair, or the softness to her features. "Oh no, I wouldn't want to bother you!"

"It's not a bother at all," she shook her head before grabbing one end of the trolley, carrying it up the stairs with ease.

The green-eyed woman shot her a quivery smile. "Thank you for your help, miss."

"It's no problem at all, ma'am - really!" Morie smiled, giving a clumsy wave before she hurried off towards her house.

I hope the eggs aren't broken… Eh. I'm sure dad can handle them.

Trouble spelled, however, when she arrived home and still did not feel like studying. There was only one conclusion she had in mind - she had burnt herself out. The revelation was frustrating, however - the examinations were only a few days away, so why now?

With a sigh, Morie pulled out her math papers for reviewing. Her math was utterly atrocious for an inexplicable reason, despite the stereotype that those good with physics were excellent with calculations and numbers.

(With a quirk like hers, she was expected to be good with physics at least. Though thank goodness she did not actually have to do calculations for her quirk to work.)

The question she was currently stuck on was an application of integration question. Apparently she had gotten the idea down, but along the way one of her answers in between working had turned out to be wrong. It was a vicious domino effect, and by now her head was near swimming in numbers - she had no clue where she had went wrong. A long, heavy sigh was let out, and she dropped her pen fruitlessly onto the table.

Math, the bane of my existence.

'Mori,' Chika's voice rang out in her mind, and she flinched - had she been thinking too loud? 'Yes, you were. Anyway I made too many cookies, could you bring some to our neighbours?'

"Sure," came her grumble in response. Morie pushed up from her chair lazily, her joints made a cracking noise in protest and the girl ambled downstairs.

The kitchen had pleasantly become Cookie Heaven. Every surface seemed to be covered with trays of cooling cookies of different flavours - it would not be an understatement to say that they could hold a bake sale right there and then.

"What's with the mountain of cookies, dad?" Morie managed after gawking for a while.

"For your mom, of course! She's been stressed lately..." Chika, pink apron and all, replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She's practically Cookie Monster, y'know. In fact, I think she only agreed to go on a date with me because she liked the cookies I gave her…"

"I mean, your recipe is the best," Morie giggled. Her parents did not talk about their history often, probably because they figured that she would not be interested. "You guys met in school?"

Her hand sneaked towards a plate of cookies, only to get smacked by a hovering spatula. She sent a scathing look at her dad.

"They're still cooling," he chastised. Though a dopey grin was spreading across his face in remembrance of his golden days. "But yes, I was a bright-eyed first year and she was in the Big Three. I thought that I should just go for it since she was graduating soon - best decision ever. I'm grateful she gave me a chance; I found out afterwards that she'd just gotten out of a bad relationship."

Morie inwardly cooed on the inside - was she a secret romantic, after all? But she just loved hearing stories about how couples met, and it was adorable that her parents had met in the school she was currently in.

"I gotta admit, that's really cute," she couldn't help but laugh when she imagined a younger, geeky version of her dad, completely head-over-heels for her beautiful, probably way-out-of-his-league mother.

Chika flicked her forehead, and she made a noise of protest. "Rude! I was totally in her league. You may laugh now, Mori, but I'll be the one laughing when you decide to bring someone home."

"That's gonna take a while," Morie snorted at the thought. Romance was hardly on her mind at all, as all she wanted to do was finally excel in her Hero studies. She doubted that she would ever be interested in anyone in that way, considering that most of her crushes had just been bordering on admiration on gentlemanly Heroes.

Her shoulders raised themselves in a shrug. "I don't suppose cats count?"

"Nope!" Her father hummed. The Pressure user watched on in bemusement as a tray of matcha white chocolate cookies stacked itself into an airtight container, which flew into her arms; then into her arms flew a smaller plate of chocolate chip cookies which were still warm. She stared down at the sweets in her hands.

"Uh. Is it really okay to give them these when it's just past lunchtime?"

"It's totally fine - now off you go!" Promptly, Morie was gracelessly shooed out of the kitchen.

It took some balancing, but she eventually managed to spare a hand to grab her phone and slip it into her pocket before she went over next door. The smaller girl fidgeted in front of the house next-door, feeling slightly uncomfortable as she rang the doorbell.

"The gate's open!" Someone called out from inside the house, and Morie took that as her cue to step inside the compound. The main door swung open to reveal a familiar woman, dressed casually in a skirt and slippers. With her gleaming red eyes and spiky hair, Bakugou Mitsuki looked as striking as ever - currently she grinned down at the younger girl before her.

"If it isn't Morie-chan! What brings you here, kid?"

"It's good to see you again, Mitsuki-san," she gave a small bow, feeling somewhat shy, before holding up the cookies. "My dad wanted me to bring you some cookies he made just now."

Mitsuki eyed the cookies in the container, letting out a bark-like chuckle. "Your old man sure knows us well. You wanna come inside for a bit?"

"Uh, sure! If that isn't too much trouble."

For some reason, Morie felt oddly self-conscious as she followed the woman inside her house. Mitsuki gently took over the container of matcha cookies, before directing Morie towards the staircase.

"Chocolate chip cookies are the boy's favorite. Mind bringing that plate to him upstairs, dear? His room is the first room on the right - I'll go fix up a snack you can bring back for you and your old man." Her red eyes glinted with what seemed to be a knowing expression, and the dark-haired girl blinked at the strange suggestion.

"Ah," Morie bowed her head, deciding not to suggest that she didn't have to go to such lengths for them. She sent the older woman a small smile. "Sure, Mitsuki-san. And thank you very much."

Mitsuki chuckled, a hand reached out to ruffle her short, dark strands. The gesture reminded her very much of her own mother, causing her smile to widen somewhat.

"Just holler if that kid starts being a brat, alright? I'll scold his ass for you." The spiky-haired woman commented before disappearing into the kitchen moments later, sparking a soft giggle from Morie. She took the cue to head upstairs, the plate of cookies within her grasp.

Outside the specified room, her footsteps fell to a halt. The door was pretty ordinary, freshly painted with no indication of whose room it was - no name tags, nothing at all. Then she frowned as shouts seemed to emanate from within the room.

"How many times are you going to repeat this mistake, you dumbass!"

"Dude, I'm sorry! I'm trying!"

… was there someone else in there? Muffled as it was, the other voice was extremely familiar.

Steeling herself for the last time, her hand raised itself to give a sharp rap against the door. The room fell silent then.

"What do you want again, you old hag?!" The door clicked open.

Morie's dark eyes met with crimson ones, and a scowl flashed over Bakugou's face. For just a moment, a muted confusion was evident in his furrowed features as he took in her sudden appearance. Then he bit out, his voice impossibly flat. "What the hell."

"Nice seeing you too, Bakugou," was her even response, the corners of her lips curling upwards in amusement. Morie held up her plate of chocolate chip cookies so he could see it clearly. "My dad made cookies, and your mom told me to bring them to you."

Bakugou was still scowling. He stepped to the side, opening the door completely.

"Get in."

Uh. I just wanted to drop the cookies off and go back home, but sure.

"Thanks," she mumbled, moving past him to enter the room. Bakugou marched back back to his table, and her dark eyes widened as she took in all-too-familiar bright red hair, sticking upwards in a spiky fashion.

"Dude, I still think you shouldn't be talking to your mom like that - wait, Rie-san?" Kirishima's eyes widened owlishly as he turned to catch sight of the dark-haired girl. A grin split on her face.

"Yo, Kiri!"

Walking over, she set down the plate of cookies on the table. "Please help yourself."

"Woah, thanks man!" Kirishima immediately picked up a piece. As he chewed on the gooey cookies, his red eyes looked between Morie and Bakugou quizzically with a wide-eyed expression.

"This is really good- but uh, Rie-san, what are you doing here though?" The red-haired boy asked between mouthfuls of cookie.

Morie rubbed the back of her neck. "Well," she started, hoping that she would not regret revealing this. The last she checked, the Bakusquad was only aware that they lived in the same neighbourhood. "I live next door. And my dad asked me to bring cookies."

"Are you guys childhood friends, then?" Kirishima blinked at that revelation.

"Nah, I met him for the first time a few months before school started," Morie explained, avoiding Bakugou's eye at the memory of their unpleasant first meeting. Her brain sought for a topic change almost instinctively. "I didn't expect you guys to be here, though. I thought you would be studying at a cafe or something."

Bakugou did not comment, simply swiping off a cookie on a plate and biting into it vengefully. His expression was a careful poker-face, such that Morie could not tell if he truly liked cookies as much as his mother described.

"Well, someone got us kicked out for making too much noise," Kirishima's eyes swept over to the ash-blonde beside him pointedly. "So much for him being surprisingly benevolent! We barely got any studying done."

"Shuddap, shitty hair! You're lucky that I'm willing to put up with your dumb ass," Bakugou grumbled out. Inwardly, Morie laughed as he tried to inconspicuously shove another cookie into his mouth.

A loud chortle escaped Kirishima promptly.

"Can you believe this guy?" He picked up a cookie and tried to hand it to her, which was swiftly declined. "Anyway, Rie-san! You said you'd consider studying with us the other time."

And so Morie did. She thought of the math problems she could not figure out on her own and how it might be better for her to study with friends, considering that her motivation had literally plummeted down into the ruts. Then Mina's comment from only a while ago surfaced in her mind, and a light pink dusted her cheeks, causing herself to hesitate for just a moment.

Then she inwardly slapped herself.

Whatever. In the Bakusquad, I'm practically just one of the guys, anyway.

"... alright, then," Morie rubbed the back of her neck. "If that's really okay."

"Hell yeah!" Kirishima was almost glowing at her response. But perhaps Bakugou knew that her statement was largely directed at him, for he was glowering determinedly at her direction.

"How many goddamn times do I need to tell you," came the ash blonde boy's annoyed response. His voice came out slightly muffled as he chomped on cookies aggressively. "I don't give a single shit."

Morie laughed out loud - she almost felt like the cookies were what won him over - and cleared her throat.

"Cool. Gimme five minutes, I'll bring some of my stuff over."

(Somehow, she had the sinking feeling that she was about to become the third wheel, or something along those lines.

… welp. Here's to a productive study session.

Fingers crossed.)

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(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

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A/N:

The cat scene was inspired by personal experience. the stray cat i feed likes my parents more than me, and they don't even pet it :( I like the idea of Bakugou joining the cat fam along with his dad, Rie, Aizawa and Shinsou.

Kudos if you see all the references/parallels I'm throwing in.

I wrote this before I realised there was actually an official version of KiriBaku's study date! Just some creative liberties, but you guys can go check out the original events (they were detailed in a tumblr blog.)

A short filler! before we head into the Practical exam. As always, thanks for reading! Do let me know what you think of this chapter, and the events to come!

Till next time :)

- C