Their Hero Academia – Chapter 55: Friends Helping Friends

"So who should we do for our project?"

Kenta looked up from his math textbook and the notes spread out on his desk. He, Takuma, and Kimiko were all studying in his room. It was the least cluttered and busy of their three rooms, without Kimiko's plushies and martial arts equipment or the eye-searing and garish decorations that filled Takuma's. Other than Shoji's, it was probably the most boring room in the dormitory. At least he had stuff in his, mostly a few posters and some family photos. Pretty basic, but it was his.

"I asked what we should do for our project," Takuma said. He was sitting on the floor, a book on his lap and a notepad next to him.

"What project?" Kenta asked.

"Our Hero History project?" Takuma prompted. "From Skyline's class today? A presentation on a Pro Hero who made a significant contribution to society, either through good actions or bad behavior?"

"Oh, right," he replied. "That."

His pink-skinned friend held his gaze for a minute. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Kenta let out a sigh. "Yeah, sorry, nothing."

Kimiko, sitting on his bed, gave him a look. He couldn't see her eyes or expression, of course, but he could practically feel the concern radiating off her. There was a slight denting on the collar of her shirt, which told him she was tilting her head. One sleeve came up. Was she maybe pointing? "You okay, Kenta?" she asked. "You've been kind of spacey ever since you got back last night."

He frowned. "You guys have your sessions with Hound Dog yet?"

"During English today," Kimiko said. She tensed. "You did notice I was gone, didn't you?"

Kenta swallowed hard. "I didn't. Sorry, Kimmie." He felt bad about that. Kimiko tried so hard to make sure she was noticed, and he hadn't even realized she was gone. Sure, he'd kind of been sleepwalking through the day, but he didn't feel like that was any kind of excuse.

"Kenta!" she yelled, arms flailing, "how could you just miss me like that! I oughta…."

She trailed off. Kenta guessed he must have looked distressed enough to prevent a full on rant and swat. There was some small blessing in that. Kimiko wasn't that tall, but she was fit and packed a lot of power behind her smacks. He was surprised Takuma didn't have brain damage from all the times she'd gone upside his head.

Though she never did seem to smack him as hard she did him.

She arms dropped to her lap. "It was fine. I really didn't see much of anything. Just one of those things when me and Doctor Izumi got closer to the hospital. I made us invisible and Mister Aoyama zapped the hell out of it. Thing sure was ugly though. But I got cleared right away."

"Me too," Takuma said. "During Science. Tsukuyomi did pretty much all the lifting and just tore the one we were fighting apart. Scary, kinda gross. But I wasn't in any danger."

Keta wondered if wasn't noticing how his voice was shaking with that. But his best friend's lighter nature returned almost immediately. "Please tell me you noticed," Takuma continued. "Because I sit right next to you."

Kenta squirmed uncomfortably.

"Bro." Takuma gave him an incredulous look.

"Seriously, Kenta, what's going on?" Kimiko asked. "This isn't like you. You're usually the one keeping us focused."

Well, how was he supposed to answer that? That he'd used his Quirk on what he'd thought had been a living thing? That he couldn't get the taste of its freakish (false?) flesh out of his mouth? That he'd been scared he was going to die? That if he had a better or more impressive Quirk, he wouldn't have nearly died?

How about the fact that he'd been planning on asking Kimiko out before everything turned to shit? He'd gone from riding a victory high after helping to beat that gunk villain to being scared out of his mind just days later.

Suneater and Nejire-Chan said he'd saved their lives.

So why didn't he feel like a Hero?

"It's nothing," he said, trying to change the subject. "So, you said we've got a report?"

Unfortunately, his attempts at diversion did not work and just got both of them staring at him intently. ""It's not nothing," Takuma said, crossing his arms. The frown looked badly out of place on his pink face. "You've been out of it all day."

Kenta looked away. "I really don't…"

"Bro," Takuma said again. "I'm your best friend."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Kimmie, but it's true. You're a real close second, though. But Kenta, we're your friends. We've been through some shit together. That time we tried to hide a kitten in your room. The cookie fiasco. Mrs. Tendo's math class."

Left unspoken was the death of his mother, but Kenta knew it was there all the same. Takuma, Kimiko, Akaya, they'd all been there, as much as five year olds could, when his mom had been killed. And the friendships there had stayed ever since.

"Talk to us," Takuma said, softly.

Kimiko moved over to his side of the room. "Aw, Kenta," she began. Some inner warning system told him to flinch, which was wise, because the next thing he knew, she was hitting him, smacking him across the arms and shoulders with her hands. "If you don't tell us what's wrong, I'm going to beat the stuffing out of you! We're your friends! If there's something wrong with you, we wanna know about it! Why don't you talk to us?!"

"Kimmie! You're gonna leave bruises!" Takuma grabbed her arm before she could hit him again, and pulled her slightly away.

Kenta rubbed his arm where she'd been smacking him. "No, she's right. You're… both right. I shouldn't…"

He looked down. The floor was more comfortable than having to look two of the people who mattered most to him in the eyes. "I nearly died, guys." He heard gasps from both of them. Kimiko didn't even protest that she was "not a guy."

Kenta sucked in a breath. "That Nomu knocked out Suneater and then Nejire-Chan. She hit her head. I was pretty sure she was dead, until I saw her breathing. But it kept coming. I thought for sure it was going to kill her, then me. Or some combination of that. So I… I took a bite out of it."

He shook his head. "I was pretty sure it was alive. Or as alive as something like that could be. Not a robot. But I still did it. Because I thought it was the only way to get out of there alive. And then I tried to hightail it out of there with Nejire-Chan. But it kept following us, even with half its calve missing. If Deku hadn't shown up… she'd be dead, I'd be dead, and then it probably would have gone back and finished off Suneater."

He was aware, suddenly, that he was sobbing. Kenta held his head in his hands. "We'd all be dead and Dad… Dad'd be all alone… Maybe if I was stronger or had a better Quirk or…"

Arms wrapped around him, Takuma's wiry ones and Kimiko's fit ones. A group hug. "Oh, Kenta," Kimiko said. "We had no idea."

"Dude," Takuma added, "you can't just keep this stuff to yourself. We're your friends. We're the ones you're supposed to tell this stuff to.

"And besides," he went on, causing Kenta to look up, "do you know how much time we've invested in your social media presence? All of that'd be wasted if you got killed." He had on his "good idea grin," the one he always did when he was trying to convince someone to go along with his ideas and trying to push the charm. It rarely ever worked.

This time, though, Kenta found himself laughing. Slowly at first, but then faster, louder, until he was laughing as hard as he'd been sobbing, and the tears of pain he'd cried turned to tears of joy. When Kimiko and Takuma released him, he wiped his eyes. "Oh, man," he said, feeling lighter for the first time since Saturday morning, "I needed that. Thanks, both of you."

"Anytime, Bro," Takuma said.

"What're friends for?" Kimiko asked. "But if you ever pull anything like that again…" She raised an arm, menacingly.

"'Make Kimiko go whacko, you get the smacko,'" Kenta repeated from memory.

"Damn right you will," she said firmly.

"The three of us," Takuma said, "we're together to the end. No matter what."

He could still hear the Nomu's roar. Still smell its fetid breath. Still taste its putrid flesh in his mouth. Still feel the fear threatening to drive his heart from his chest.

But now, it all felt just a little more distant. And maybe, just maybe, he was a little more determined to tell Kimiko how he felt. After nearly dying, there were way worse things than maybe being a little embarrassed.

Worst she'd probably do was smack him.

"Thanks, both of you, for coming," Kana Tetsutetsu said, walking up the stairs to the fourth floor of the Class 1-B dormitory. She let out a weary sigh. "I've tried talking to him, but he practically hid from everyone at lunch and he holed up in his room immediately after class."

"Anything for 'Ro," Mika said. "He's been ignoring me too, for what it's worth. I was about to send him some steamy pics when you called. See if that worked."

She had a really great bikini for it too. Combined with her rocking bod, it was guaranteed to get some kind of response out of anyone female-attracted. She should still probably send some of those to Shinji. He was on a social media lockdown as part of his punishment for flying to the rescue across Japan (And how romantic was that?), but texts should still count…

"Maybe you should try sending Haimawari some, Kana," she said. "Guys like those things. Keeps the fire in the relationship."

"We've texted and watched some movies together," Kana said, sounding annoyed. "He's a nice guy—and he is cute—but we're definitely not at that stage yet. And Mika…"

"Yes?"

"Stop hitting on him or I'll break your legs."

Mika like out a frightened eep. "Yes, ma'am," she said.

"Should you not tell your Homeroom Teacher?" Akaya asked, trying to drag the subject back to the actual reason they were there. It wasn't Mika's fault so many things lead to sexual or relationshipal thoughts! "The welfare of students is his job. Or perhaps your mother? She is a close family friend."

Kana shook her head, setting her orange-red ponytail swaying. "Getting Fujii-sensei or Mom involved is just asking for trouble. Plus it might end up on the record, even with Mom. The line between family friend and teacher gets a little weird. Plus Mom'd tell his parents and Shiro already feels like he's here hanging on by a thread. Who knows what would happen if he thought it was getting worse."

Mika was definitely glad her mom wasn't a UA teacher. She needed freedom to pursue her various interests, like boys. And girls. And other individuals to which she was attracted. Having that much scrutiny around all the time during your teenage years couldn't be good for you.

"Understandable," Akaya said. "But if Shiro is so deeply troubled, I would prefer he get the help he needs, regardless of what it may mean for his career. Still… perhaps we can convince him to seek the help himself."

"Thanks," Kana said, opening the stairwell door. "Fukidashi says he's "undergoing character development," but that's pretty par for the course for her nonsense." Even Mika would admit that Anime sometimes didn't make a lot of sense.

"Think it has something to do with his Internship?" Mika asked.

Shiro had interned with Red Riot. Considering Shiro was hung up on Kirishima-Bakugo, that had to have been awkward. Wasn't he supposed to have done some kind of dramatic confession before they started those? If it had gone well, he'd probably have bragged about it to everyone who would listen, so she could only assume she'd turned him down, but still…

"I asked Shoji what happened," Akaya said. "But he said it was not his place to discuss it."

"Of course he did," Mike said, rolling her eyes. "He makes minding his own business a Sports Festival level event." Understandable, but not helpful in this particular situation.

Two of the four doors were open, one on either side nearest the stairwell. In one of them, a very attractive guy who looked like a humanoid bat was strumming on what looked like a heavily modified guitar with his long fingers. His fur was white, save for a mane of wild blond hair. She could just imagine him folding his wing-arms around her and…

A tug on her arm brought her back to reality. "Help friends now, carnal pursuits later," Akaya cautioned her.

"I'll introduce you to Koumori later, if this pans out, okay?" Kana said, giving her the same look other people did when they were fighting the urge to roll their eyes.

If he was interested in music though, maybe she could pass up a hot guy this one time, introduce him to Chihio? Her best friend was nearly flat as a board, so she needed a different hook to get a guy… Chi did have good legs and a great ass (She noticed these things, even if she'd never hit on her best friend), so throw in a mutual interest…

From the doorway of the other open room, a large young man—He had to be nearly three meters tall!—poked his head out. "Everything okay, Tetsutetsu?" he asked.

"I don't know yet, Fukui," Kana told him. "Have you seen Shiro today? Outside of class, I mean."

The big guy shook his head. "I think I saw him go down and get some food, but that's it. He was doing that sneaky ninja creep thing he does."

Kana just sighed and pinched her nose again. "Of course, he did. Thank you, Fukui."

"Yes, thank you," Akaya added. She gave him a little wave. "Hello, Fukui."

The big guy smiled and returned the wave. "Hi, Koda. Still planning on joining us in the garden this weekend?"

"If time and weather permit."

Mika looked between the two. She knew they were friends, but were they friends or "friends"? None of her usual radar was going off, so probably just the former. And also not relevant to the task at hand! If she didn't get any action on this trip, nobody did!

Shiro's room was at the end of the hall, on the left. Kana knocked on it. "Shiro! Open up!"

Silence greeted her. She knocked again. "Shiro, this is me as your friend, not as your classmate or Class Rep. Open up. Please."

A muffled sound came from within. It sounded a bit like "Go away."

Kana threw her hands up in the air. "Argh. He's power sulking, I just know it. He was doing this before the Internships too."

Yeah, that definitely suggested whatever had happened with Kirishima-Bakugo hadn't gone well. Poor Shiro. There was a sweet guy under all that ego. He'd definitely treated her like a princess when they'd been dating.

Kana turned to Akaya. "Okay, your turn. We'll try reasonableness."

"Shiro," Akaya said, with that soft voice of hers, like wind through reeds, "Shiro, please. We are worried about you. Whatever happened, allow us to share your burdens."

This too, was met by silence.

Akaya placed a hand on the door. "Shiro. Please. I am asking you not to hide from us."

Silence again greeted them, until the soft sound of footsteps on carpet followed. The door opened slightly and Mika peered around Akaya's bulk to a get a look at him. She would be the first to admit that she was frequently surprised, whether it was by unexpected hotness or Kirishia-Bakugo showing up out of nowhere to yell at her. But what she saw with Shiro took her breath away.

He looked like he hadn't slept in a couple of days, with deep, dark bags hanging under his eyes. He was slouching. He hadn't changed out of his uniform, other than to shuck the jacket, so it was it was wrinkled. He'd allowed his hair to become unkempt.

That was when she realized just how serious this was.

"Holy crap," Mika said, softly.

"I'm fine, Akaya," he said, not looking her in the eyes. "Just tired."

"Kana was worried about you," Akaya said. "And I see now that she was right to be so. You are very much not yourself."

"I'll be fine," Shiro insisted. It looked very much like he'd been crying. And like he hadn't even been doing his skin care regime! "If you'll excuse me, Akaya, it's nice of you to check on me. But I'm in the middle of something."

Mika could just see into Shiro's room. The vaguely French décor, the expansive hair care set up, it looked just like the last time she had been in his room (It had been entirely platonic, despite how she kept dropping things and had to keep bending over to pick them up.), except for the suitcases on the floor. It was entirely possible, given his depressive state, that he had never unpacked. It would have been unlike his usual collected self, but possible under current circumstances. Except for the fact that most of his dresser drawers appeared to be open. And empty.

"What," she said, "the actual fuck?!"

She quickly became aware that she must have been rather loud, because Akaya, Kana, and Shiro were all staring at her. Even the other boys on the floor had come out of their rooms to see. Fortunately for her, she didn't care.

She pushed past Akaya and shoved Shiro into his room, roughly. "I've got this."

The door slammed shut behind her.

Mika gave Shiro another shove further into the room, and then one more, to knock him onto the bed. She pointed at him and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Trembling with rage, she forced herself to be able to speak.

"What. The Hell. Is wrong with you?" she demanded, going back to pointing. "Are you giving up? Quitting? Since when the hell do you do that?!"

She realized he was staring at her, eyes wide, a frighten expression on his face, shaking like a leaf. "Hey, no, no," Mika said quickly, joining him on the bed. She put her arms around him. Under most circumstances, she'd have pulled his head to her bosom, but it didn't seem like it would work here. "I'm not mad. Okay, yes, I am mad at you. Because you got me all worried. But why are you leaving?"

"Because I don't belong here."

"The hell you don't."

Shiro gestured to his desk, where some of his things were still out. A deck of playing cards, a set of lock picks, even a twirling baton. A small pair of hand weights sat on the floor, and DVDs of Heroes in action in hand-lettered cases occupied a significant section of the bookshelf.

"Did you know there's a running bet among some of the other courses as to whether or not I even have a Quick? Do you know how hard I have to work, just to keep up with people with real powers? Just because I can move like Eraserhead or copy Gunhead's moves doesn't mean I've got any of their strength unless I work at it. All the time. So I've worked for years to be able to keep up."

He closed his eyes. "And when I was out in the field… when that monster attacked… my Quirk and body betrayed me. It might have been a robot, but cloaked in dead skin, all I could see was how profoundly wrong it was. Not like Ojiro or Fukidashi, they're just blind spots. But just pure, unadulterated, unnaturalness. And I knew, in that moment, no matter what I did… there was nothing I could have done that would have even slowed it down for a moment."

His eyes snapped open, tears trailing down his cheeks. "I froze! Shoji had to carry me out of there, like a child! I could have run, I could have done anything, but instead, I was exactly what they always used to say I was… a useless kid with a useless, fake Quirk, deluding himself about being a Hero!"

Mika blinked slowly, processing everything Shiro had just unloaded on her. She knew he had plenty of crisises of confidence. She remembered comforting him after he'd lost at the Sports Festival. She remembered the many times where he'd wondered if he was good enough.

But she had never seen him as broken as he was right now. Self-doubt was one thing, he had wanted to be talked out of those bouts. She wasn't sure he did right now.

"So I might as well pack my things. Maybe they can give my spot to a Gen Ed kid like Kocho. Somebody who'll do something with it. It's not too late to take up a career as a street performer."

Mika frowned. Kana would have had some words of encouragement. Akaya would have had something deep and thoughtful to add to the conversation. Even Kirishima-Bakugo would have known what to say here, though her answer probably would have been "Suck up and get over it." Unfortunately, Mika was none of those people, so she was going to have to improvise.

"Okay," she said, "first, I'm going to need the names of whoever's organizing these bets. Because I need to adjust the hoof to ass ratio around here something fierce."

He gave her an incredulous look. "That's your takeaway from this?"

"Look, I don't have a lot of tools here, Shiro. So ass kicking on your behalf seems like a good start."

"You're impossible, you know that?" he said. "But even if you beat them all up, it doesn't change anything."

She gave him a small poke in the chest with her finger. "Listen to me, Shiro. You're going to stay here, and you're going to be a big damn Hero. And do you know why?"

He gave a little laugh. "Because you'll adjust my ass to hoof ratio?"

"No," she said. "Well, yes, if this moping thing keeps up. But that's not why. It's because you're a spiteful little bastard who never let anybody tell him what he can and can't do. And if you think you can't cut it… then do it to spite yourself."

This got another laugh, one that was quickly replaced by a frown. "You realize that made no sense? And it still doesn't change anything."

"Got you to forget your problems for a minute, didn't I?" Mika asked. "You change your mind yet?"

"No."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

Shiro shook his head. "As… refreshing as this chat's been, I'm still the guy who froze up when he should have acted."

She was rapidly running out of ideas here. "How's your class going to get by without you?"

"Kana is the Representative. She'll do a fine job, even without me. She might not have quite the same competitive spirit I do, but she's got enough of one to ensure they won't fall behind."

"The term's not over and you won't be able to transfer anywhere, even to a non-Hero school, without a complete transcript."

He opened and closed his mouth. "…Dammit."

"Stay at least that long?" she asked. "Please?"

"For the sake of my academics, yes."

"Great! That gives me a few weeks to work with!"

He just shook his head. "You're really not giving up on me, are you?"

"Of course not," she told him, leaning over to give him a little peck on the cheek.

She really didn't know how to solve this. This was every problem Shiro had had turned up to eleven. Being rejected on top of having his perceived weaknesses brought to the forefront… There really wasn't a good way to get past that. At least, not that she could see right now. Maybe Akaya or Kana or Anime could think of something.

But she could be there. And she'd bought herself a little time.

"Hey, ah, can we come in?"

The voice at the door snapped Katsumi's attention out of her math homework. Or rather, her attempts at her homework. She wasn't exactly having an easy time focusing on the numbers and formulae. The more she tried to concentrate, the more it all ran away from her and sent her spiraling down dark paths.

At least Izzy and Toshi were giving her space. They'd both assured her they were here for her if she needed them, but knew to let her process it all in her own way. Though Izzy was extremely insistent that she unburden herself somehow, to someone. Still unable to say no to Izzy, she'd said she would. Which meant she'd have to deal with this sooner or later. Because while she was many things, she wasn't a liar.

"Kirishima-Bakugo?" a second voice, this one male, joined the first. "You going to give us an answer?"

"Katsumi."

That last one definitely got her attention. She turned and saw Sero and Kaminari standing in her doorway. She gave them a glare and both squawked. Sero actually took an awkward step backwards, losing his balance and falling on his ass. Kaminari let out an equally terrified squeak, her Extension Cords standing upright and sending off sparks. "Kaminari, we definitely aren't close enough to be to be using my first name,"

"We used to be," Kaminari said as she helped Sero back to his feet.

"Yeah," Sero said. "Bakusquad Generation Two! What happened to that?"

Her glare must be getting weak. They were still there and still talking. "Because you two got dumb as fuck."

They weren't wrong. They'd been friends, once, when they were children and when they were pre-teens. But then Sero got obsessed with internet fame and Kaminari had started listening to Mineta more and more, where Katsumi remained one hundred percent focused on her goal of being a Hero. So they'd drifted apart. Kaminari, she saw more often still, since she was also friends with Izzy, but it was never quite the same.

They weren't friends, but they were still… Something. She wasn't sure what the word was. Classmates, at least. Family friends, sure. And she'd put them ahead of Horse-Girl or the Glowstick on the list of people she tolerated, so there was that.

"Right," Sero said, unfazed by her barb. "And you got terrifying beyond all reason. You know, the usual."

"So can we come in or not?" Kaminari asked.

"Is there any answer I can give that would make you go away?"

They exchanged a look. "Nope," Sero said.

"Nope," Kaminari added.

"Nope!" both said at once.

"No," Katsumi said, because some things had to be tried, no matter how futile they were. She wasn't surprised when they ignored her and came in anyway.

"Dig the posters," Kaminari said, looking at the posters for the heavy metal bands on her walls. "Scream Girls? Great sound. You've got good taste."

"I've heard about them," Sero said. "Loud, angry-sounding lesbians in leather costumes. I can total see why you dig them, Kirishima-Bakugo."

Katsumi gave him a look that would peel paint. He panicked appropriately, flailing his hands in an apologetic gesture. "N..not that there's anything wrong with that! Kind of loud for me, though. I gotta go with the Nyan-Band myself. Their stuff's catchy!"

This time, both Katsumi and Kaminari gave him a look. "You're an idiot," Kaminari said.

"Dumbass," Katsumi said.

There was a brief pause as Katsumi exchanged a look with Kaminari. It said "in this moment, I respect that you are not Sero."

"So seriously, what are you two doing here?" she demanded. "Other than lowering the average IQ in the room?"

"Look, it's like you said, we're not really friends anymore," Sero said. "Not close, anyway. But all our families are still friends. We were worried about you and your dad."

"Yeah," Kaminari said. She frowned, which Katsumi admitted looked out of place on her features. She was a dumbass, but Kaminari was usually cheerful. "Um, I just… remember when Dad was hurt. Back in the day. And how messed up it all was even back then. So now…"

Back when Papa had been hurt. And Uncle Tetsutetsu had been hurt. And Sato had lost his mother. Lots of people had been hurt on that one. Kaminari's dad had been stabbed. A lot. When they hadn't been sure if they were going to lose Papa…

At least in the here and now, they had a guarantee that Dad was going to be all right. Him living wasn't a question. But how well he'd take to, well, pretty much anything, was still up in the air. She'd talked to both her parents today. Lots of physical therapy for Dad, so he could at least be fitted for a normal prosthetic eventually, even if he couldn't use his Quirk with it. Papa was also trying to get him to talk to a real therapist… it wasn't going well.

Of course, she wasn't exactly looking forward to her own sessions with Hound Dog either. Because she was pretty sure she wasn't getting away with just one. The school therapist probably had a thing about people suppressing their uncomfortable emotions and channeling them for violence. Some stupid rule about not using "unhealthy coping mechanisms."

"He's… he's healing," Katsumi said, hoping they didn't notice the hesitancy in her voice. The last thing she needed was for either of them to stop being afraid of her. "Still a way's away from being discharged though."

"Eeesh," Sero said. "Rough. Mom said Dad's going home tomorrow. Gotta take it easy for a while though."

"Dad went home to day," Kaminari said. "He actually got off pretty easy."

Katsumi clenched a fist and gritted her teeth. She wasn't going to snap at them. She wasn't going to yell. She wasn't going to protest the unfairness of it all. It was all part of the risks of being a Hero. But damn, she wanted to.

"Still," Sero said, "good to hear about your dad. When we heard what had happened to him…"

"Got pretty scared," Kaminari said. "Somebody like him can get hurt like that… Somebody we know and who took care of us as kids…"

Yeah. A big name Hero like Dad getting hurt, that was shocking. Brought them down to normal suddenly, deleted the myth of invincibility. But she'd learned that lesson early.

Didn't make it hurt any less right now. Or make her worry go away.

"So…," Kaminari went on, as an awkwardness hung in the air. She gestured vaguely with her Cords, hands stuffed into the pockets of her pants. "We just wanted to say we're here if you need us."

"Just wanna talk, or whatever," Sero said. He held up a finger. "Or even if you just want to yell at us. That always seems to make you happy."

A free pass at that? A grin slowly spread over Katsumi's face. "I just might have to take you up on that," she said. "…But not when you're expecting it."

"So what you're saying is we've got a free shot at annoying you now?" Sero asked. "Because I could totally film that. Simmering kettle, I'll call it…"

Katsumi just rolled her eyes. "Under no circumstances."

"Yeah, okay," Kaminari said, tugging on Sero's arm to get him moving toward the door. "Let's get out of here before you get us both killed. But we meant it, Kirishima-Bakugo. You need us, talk to us."

Maybe she would. Maybe she would.