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Even though they had a hard time communicating, they both knew what they had to do when they traveled together. Luckily, scavenging and moving typically required them to be quiet. The infected were slow and sluggish, but that didn't mean they weren't sneaky. They both had close calls being too arrogant.

Just like in middle school, Bakugou always stayed ahead of her. She was in charge of watching his behind, making sure that nothing changed suddenly from what they believed was correct. He remained in front of her and handled any infected they may come across if they come across any at all. There weren't a lot from where they stayed, but as they approached Shiketsu she couldn't help but notice the density of the infected increasing step by step.

"Are we there yet?" she whispered to him anxiously. She started picking at her cuticles, her other hand tightening around her baseball bat. There were beginning to be a lot of infected around, and she really wasn't feeling like risking becoming food just to see a glimpse of the school.

Bakugou didn't respond. He was focused, unlike her, and really seemed to be trying to sell the image of the school, which confused her. He was never one to really try to make anything look good. Either it did or it didn't and that was just how he was. She assumed he decided it looked good, but she could still hear the small, quiet skepticism in his voice.

She had made her own assumption about the school based on what Bakugou told her. If it was as big as he claimed, then they were probably scouting for supplies nearby to keep everyone fed. That also meant that food was being taken from them, which meant his concern of them starving could be because of Shiketsu. She was also aware that soon they'd be discovered, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet. She didn't want anyone to find them, because she didn't know who was good or bad. If Shiketsu was bad and they made the wrong decision of trusting them, then how would they get out? She started biting her lips as more concerns popped into her head, but then she began to realize there were no infected.

"We're here," Bakugou whispered, crutching below some bushes. "They have snipers, so crouch if you don't want to get shot." She squatted next to him, noting how he had a gun out. He rarely took it out because noise seemed to draw the infected towards them. He was pretty confident with his hunting knife to get in close and deal with them. His caution made her more nervous.

When she finally got past the behavior, she noticed how refreshing the school looked. It was clean with no sign of blood or decay anywhere. It looked like how a school should look had there been no apocalypse, and had there not been tens of parents and students brutally massacred in front of it. There was a maroon brick fence surrounding the entire school, as well as people walking around the premises with silenced pistols. Some had semi-automatic rifles as well, but they didn't have the weapons up and ready like the people carrying pistols. Probably because their guns were loud and the pistols weren't.

Smart, Midoriya thought to herself as she continued to analyze the building. She could see a courtyard where there was a mini garden in a mini greenhouse like Bakugou said. There were people tending to the crops, and it looked like there was actually food growing in there. They made themselves a reliable food source. It impressed Midoriya more.

There were a lot of people moving in and out of the courtyard. She noticed a group of teenagers helping with the garden. They even had their Shiketsu school uniforms on. The whole thing looked like it was just a normal school day, like the world hadn't ended and they were just touring the garden on a meet-the-clubs day.

She didn't like it.

But she liked what they had set up. Shiketsu wouldn't fall easily to infected or to newcomers. They had enough defense to allow them to prosper in their new world, and that was very pleasing to her.

"We don't know if they'll let us in," she told him. He too looked like he was in deep thought and his gaze didn't shift when she spoke. Instead, he stood and began to walk away from the school, but not towards their camp. She quickly followed behind him. "Where are you going?"

"Traps and snares," he explained simply, his hand digging into his pockets. She never really went with him when he went to set traps to catch any animal unlucky enough to be caught. She always thought it was too sad. She especially decided not to tag along when he commented on how soft she was when it came to it, and it made her feel embarrassed that he was stuck with someone as useless as her. Sometimes she felt like the name Deku really sufficed.

"When are we going back," she asked. She really wanted to get their things so they could go to Shiketsu. He shrugged his shoulders, and that alone let her know he wasn't in the mood to talk.

She had to physically look away from the dead animal corpses whenever he picked one up. The limp bodies made her nauseous, the only thing stopping her from throwing up being the fact that their bodies hadn't started to decay yet and release the pungent smell of decomposition. Though, it did seem like the walking bodies of the decomposing infected were doing a good job to compensate for that. She wondered if Bakugou was desensitized to the smell. He was always out so much more than her. He had to have some sort of defense mechanism to the horrifying smells and sights around him.

At some point during their journey, she excused herself to use the bathroom. When she was sure that she was well hidden behind a bunch of trees and out of Bakugou's view, she started to pee in a bush. Even though there was no one to see her pee and no way for her to use an actual bathroom, she still felt flustered and embarrassed by the simple act. Most of the time when she and Bakugou were traveling together and she had to use the bathroom she couldn't muster the strength to even look in his direction. She was ready to avoid his eye contact until she realized she had lost where he went. He usually would wait for her, even if he made it look like he wasn't going to, but she couldn't find the angry blonde anywhere. He left her alone at their camp all the time, but he never left her alone when they were traveling together. Her grip tightened on the bat instinctually.

"Kacchan," she whispered. There were a lot of infected around and she didn't want them coming her way. She could handle one or two of them, but not a whole swarm. "Kacchan!" She jumped when she heard a twig snap behind her, a yelp escaping her lips. There was an infected inching its way towards her quietly, no moans or groans coming from its gaping mouth. At first, she backed away from it, but then realized it was one measly infected with a limp. She could easily take it out and she did. It took a few swings from her bat, but it was decomposed enough to where she didn't have to put too much effort into bashing its head in. Ignoring how nauseous she felt from the act, she turned back around to where Bakugou should be but was instead met with the sight of a handful of infected heading towards her. Frozen, her eyes widened in shock and she unconsciously dropped her bat. Where was Bakugou? Did he get stuck in that?

A pair of arms wrapped around her. She didn't have to scream out before she was carried behind a big tree. Fear flared throughout her body as she was slammed back first into a body with a hand covering her mouth. The air being knocked out of her, she wheezed and coughed, struggling to get air into her lungs as the hand pushed further against her mouth.

"Don't say anything or they'll know we're here," the person said. It wasn't Bakugou's, his voice was too calm to be his. The person didn't even sound like they were scared for their life, in fact, they sounded bored. She grunted against his hand and he sent her a sharp look. She froze. Had they met before?

They both waited for the small horde to pass by. Midoriya tried to squirm out of his grip to at least be standing next to him, but the stranger seemed adamant about keeping them in such an intimate pose. His hand remained on her mouth while the other arm remained wrapped around her waist, preventing her from moving much. She could feel his chest move as he breathed, and even that was calm. It bothered her.

When the horde was just about past them, they heard footsteps from the opposite direction. When she jerked her head in the direction of the sound her eyes met ruby orbs and her heart skipped a beat. He came back, and he looked furious.

It took less than a second for the stranger to be pushed to the ground by Bakugou. Midoriya stumbled out of his grip, falling to the ground ungracefully and harshly on her bottom. She could vaguely hear the sounds of grunts and punching from the two boys, but it was drowned out by the pain in her bottom and the fear of the infected turning around and attacking them.

"Kacchan– hey!" She exclaimed when she realized the stranger was on top of him. The guy had pure white hair and pale skin. He was lean and strong, and he was currently trying to beat Bakugou up. Without much hesitance, she reached for her bat that was a few feet away and came back with it raised above her head. Seeming to realize what she was about to do, he shifted his focus from Bakugou to her, which was a poor decision. He managed to elbow her in the stomach before Bakugou got back up on his feet and tackled him to the ground, seeming even more furious than he was previous. Midoriya was once again on the ground trying to catch her breath, emptying her stomach on the floor.

"What is going on here?" a new voice asked. All three of them froze and looked at the man. He was in his early thirties with his black hair cut short and his narrow, glaring black eyes peering at them. The boy with the white hair pushed Bakugou off of him and approached the man, whispering something to him. Bakugou just stared back shocked.

"You're him," he said quietly. "The one I bumped into the other day." The man looked at him once more before nodding his head.

"It appears so," the older man confirmed. "It must be fate to meet again, though the circumstance is not the one I thought it would be." Midoriya looked between the two, confusion clearly written on her face. Bakugou didn't mention anything about meeting someone new.

"You two weren't in this area yesterday," Bakugou said. The man simply nodded his head. The boy with the white hair just scowled at him, which Midoriya thought was much more human of him than before. Bakugou didn't care to meet his gaze as he stood up and dusted off his pants. His gaze met hers, and she was taken aback by the gentleness in his eyes. There was barely any anger directed towards her, something she wasn't used to. However, all the anger she expected towards herself was thrown toward the strangers. "He with you?"

"Sure is. Though, if I knew he was going to be this aggressive to newcomers I would've asked him to stay," the man explained. "Where's your camp?" Bakugou narrowed his eyes on him. He took a step in front of her, nearly blocking her from their view with his bigger frame.

"It's just us," he admitted.

"Just you two?"

"Damn straight. What's so surprising about it?" He remarked, crossing his arms over his chest. The man seemed shocked by his choice of words but didn't comment on them.

"Come to ours," he said. "It must be hard for two teenagers to make it out here alone." Bakugou scoffed in his face, which confused her. Didn't he want to go to Shiketsu?

"There's a lot of infected heading towards the school. We'll wait until that's handled."

"It already is," the man argued. "It takes a lot less time for a militia of men to handle the dead than two teenagers." Midoriya's eyes widened in shock. Did they take care of them that fast? Maybe Shiketsu wasn't that bad after all.

"What do we have to do?" she asked quietly from behind Bakugou. The older man's gaze softened as he looked at her. Suddenly she didn't feel so shy in front of the two strangers.

"Just tell us your names and how long you've been out here," he said. "My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa and he's Nanoma Nagai."

"Midoriya Izuki," she said. She pulled on Bakugou's sleeve to get him to answer. He was distracted by something again. She could tell by his scrunched eyebrows and gently pursed lips.

"Bakugo Katsuki," he said. The man nodded and extended his hand. Both of them stared at it as if it were a foreign object.

"You can keep your bat and knives, but if you have any guns we have to ask for you to turn them over. You'll get them back eventually, but for now, we need to know we can trust you to not turn your them on us, though I doubt you will," the man explained with a smile. Midoriya looked to Bakugou, waiting for him to turn over his gun. She wasn't quite sure if he would because of the intense look he was giving Nagai, but then he sighed and gave his pistol to Tsukauchi.

"Let's head to the school then."