Chapter Twenty-Six: Metal Core


Walking though the threshold of UA's entrance, exit on her mind, Ayumi took in a sip of the morning sky with her first sip of coffee for the day. The sky wore denim at six o'clock, the blue-black mixture somehow putting a comely spin on a rather ordinary look. Starlight had subsided by the early morning hours, leaving the moon to carry the weight of the sky in wait of a cream colored sun, a pale shade at the beginning of its tyrannical rule over stretched summer days. Warm morning air - characteristic to the season - hit the uncharacteristically enchanted girl as she stepped out of the stronghold she resided within, a slight smile matching the wonder in her eyes. Being more fond of the dazzling night sky, Ayumi was never really one to rise early, having neither a reason nor desire to rock her sleep schedule which revolved around night, a moon around an undeniable planet. Clarity is what the period from around ten to three brought the awestruck teen; a lack of people, an abundance of beauty, the type of sky she was reminded of every time she dotted her i's and crossed her fingers.

However, Ayumi found the opaque morning sky that existed solely for the early risers just as divine. It made her coffee taste better.

At the mouth of the school, where the solid wall opened up and gave way to the outside world, stood a boy in uniform the girl even with tired eyes could make out. Kirishima's hair, his teeth, his eyes - they were all burned into the left side of her brain, for better or worse. From about fifteen paces away, the alert teen could hear his lethargic mumblings: "I...need to...go...but...don't wanna...stay...stay...sta-"

"Awake?" inquired Ayumi, hoping to further the stalled boy's sentence along. Her bland tone registered within his mind upon impact, Kirishima's cheeks flushing a bit as a result. They locked eyes, red, dark, frozen in the lukewarm stupor summer mornings put the teens through.

Without thinking, the green skinned girl put two fingers to the sluggish boy's neck, eliciting a bruise and whimper from the boy under her calculated touch. Ayumi could feel the smooth movement of Kirishima's blood, to and fro, in sync with the sway of the trees beside them and the river running through the girl's dreams. Once she pushed past that red version of white noise, Ayumi could hear it, once, like a whisper, twice, like a beckoning, and then she couldn't forget it. His heartbeat was strong, proud, commanding the blood in favor of the boy's gut feelings and intuition, pounding only for what he deemed worthy. Although such a thundering rhythm likely stemmed from Kirishima's need to support the high number of blood vessels snaked through his entire body (necessary for his quirk usage), Ayumi believed something else made his heart beat so hard.

And suddenly...

No gap existed between the two; space was a foreign concept, red and green close enough to touch hair, close enough to touch noses, close enough to touch smiles and whatever hid behind them.

Apparently, no gap existed between the pair and the class either.

"Woah! Kirishima!" A pink girl with a set of peculiar horns peeking out from tufts of cotton candied hair bounded towards the scene, a plain looking kid and the ditzy blonde one following suit.

A wiggle of eyebrows and of voice came from the plain one. "Must be a morning person, huh, Kirishima?"

"Gettin' it on at the break of dawn man!" Little sparks shot out of the blonde as he made his remark, prompting the makeshift group to take a step back. Distance was restored between the once frozen pair, however, with one sporting a complexion the same crimson as his hair, and the other looking awfully cool about what she'd just done, things weren't looking up for the pair.

Eyes drooping, void of the spirit she had wanted to show prior to the mishap, Ayumi was once again grounded, reminded that she did not exist in the world of denim, and that dotted i's and crossed fingers would have to suffice under the stares of others. Monotonous, the teen explained, fighting off a scowl, "All I did was shoot a little caffeine into his system. He would've dropped if I hadn't, so I felt compelled to cover him this once."

"Yeah guys, seriously!" The fully conscious Kirishima now covered her, a full frontal approach to shield Ayumi from the suspicions of their classmates. Red on his face remained, however, pinning every ounce of disinterest the brunette had for the subject onto the boy blushing before her.

"You two should totally sit together on the bus!"

"Oh, I'm not so sure Bakugo would like that..."

Thankful for the way green skin overruled red feelings, Ayumi averted her gaze from the rambunctious crowd, hoping the heat she felt on her face was as invisible as the way she normally appeared to the them. Mumbling incoherent afterthoughts, the bloodshot girl gave her partner one final stare before whispering a quick "I'm out", and walking over to the boy she knew would mask the heat that she was sure the others could see rolling off her rigid form.

The Todoroki boy stood alone, yet the image he put up made him seem anything but lonely. An aberrant mix of pride and mystery, he stood apart from the crowd of 1-A students, screwing his eyes together while his gaze was trained downward on to his phone screen. Frustration was written plain as day on his scarred face, prompting Ayumi to call out, "Something on your mind?" as she approached from his left. The overwhelming heat the two toned boy emitted swirled with the warmth provided by summer sentiments; Ayumi could only hope his climate would mask hers just long enough to burn the blush off in private.

He sent a quick glance her way, then admitted lowly, "I left my toothbrush at home. No one's responding to my messages."

"What a pity. Looks like you won't have those pearly whites for much longer, then," the brunette instigated, desperate to talk about anything and everything besides the previous scene she'd taken part in.

"I'll just ask Yaoyorozu to make me one."

Uh...who?

Although she stifled a look of bewilderment, the way Ayumi's eyes immediately combed back and forth over the crowd they stood apart from did not go unnoticed by the half and half boy next to her. Amusement crossed Todoroki's eyes, one the color of ash, the other a blazing blue, both lighting up as his face lit up with laughter. It was short and sweet, reminiscent of peppermint, but the words that followed were meant to kill: "You might know less of the class than even Bakugo does."

Rolling her eyes, hoping to pull of the apathetic look she normally did so well, Ayumi shot back, "And you just lost yourself a seat mate."

Another chuckle, this time at the brunette's twitching scowl. "I'd like to see you find another person to sit next to."

Needless to say, the amused heterochromatic eyes almost shook in fear at the glare fired off by bloodshot ones.

"Oi, filth. Get out of my seat."

"Look around, scum. Do you see any other empty ones?"

She'd rushed in to grab a seat by herself, Ayumi's pride pushing her muscle fibers far further than her regular rate of cellular respiration would. It was pride which deterred her from sitting with Todoroki, pride which kept her away from the awkward mess she'd made of Kirishima in the morning, and pride which restricted her ability to ask Tsu to partner up with her, the idea of getting shot down just another of too many embarrassments which had already occurred in the six o'clock hour. And thus, the fifth window seat to the right was occupied by the bruised girl, without the boy with a tone just as icy as hers, without her green companion, without the shark toothed boy who complimented her so well. Instead, Ayumi, the filth of the class, had been delegated by the others' seat choices to share a seat with the impossibly hot headed Bakugo Katsuki of Class 1-A, or scum as she better knew him.

"Not my problem. Do I need to repeat myself, or are you as brain dead as your tests say you are?"

"Unless you wanna sit next to me, I see a good spot for you right on Todoroki's lap."

The two with eyes reddened in opposite manners scowled at each other, filth and scum desperate to sit anywhere but near the other. They repulsed each other, Bakugo neglecting to spare her a glance normally, and Ayumi turning her head whenever he strutted by. Too negative for each other they were, their only common link being the red head with the overfriendly tendencies whom they couldn't help but hang around. At most, they'd send a nod the other's way, however, the most was always exhausting when it came to someone who saw the sun in the same way as another.

That was the issue: the windows to their souls reflected in a similar manner.

The scowling blonde, seeing no other choice, relented, taking up the space on the seat to the left of the smirking girl. "Just shut up, go to sleep, and count some sheep, moron."

"Oi, you're the moron. I've literally got a coffee in my hand and you still wanna tell me to sleep?" Ayumi stifled a laugh, as she choked out, "Maybe you have issues with social cues. Wouldn't surprise me."

Bakugo groaned, mumbling, "How the hell am I sitting next to you?"

"I don't know. Personally, since Kirishima is your bestie and all-"

"SHUT UP! I don't-"

"You don't what? Have friends?"

"Argh..." Seething, Bakugo turned to the seat in front of him, eyes glued to the gray leather in a state of irritation. Then, as though a light had switched on in his head, blood colored eyes scrunched up in amusement, a characteristic smirk following. Making his return to the battle between bus seats, the eyes that shot for blood fired at bloodshot eyes, making direct contact as the boy taunted, "So how come you didn't sit next to the bonehead?"

Now it was Ayumi's turn to scowl, actively fighting to keep the blush down as images of the rush she gave him replayed wildly. "Yeah, I'd rather count sheep than continue talking to you."

"Oh? Looks like the caffeine addict is suddenly tired?"

Wide eyes on the window next to her, the girl with the irritated mind and heart fought the urge to sedate herself, fought that creeping feeling on the back of her neck, like the compulsion to jump into an ocean at the first sight of fire. Although the window she peered through was clear, Ayumi couldn't see the forest they drove through, or the mountain landscape jutting out of the trees' nurturing canopies. Instead, the girl was focused on the sheep she couldn't see, one, two, three, wishing natural sleep would come to as easily as it did to others. She counted and counted, mouthing the numbers until an entire herd existed in the folds of her wound up mind, nerves on the fritz as always. No matter how many she numbered off, there were always more, and sleep was always two sheep further down the line.

Stuck in the farm which cultivated a potent dread of the future, the green girl hadn't noticed the morning sun begin to rise, the denim sky fading out into an acid washed blue, so pale, so light. Ayumi's head suddenly hollowed out, the sheep lining up, one by one, filing out and over to the slaughterhouse. Some were gray, others white, but all were stained with blood the color of wine as the girl pushed herself up, back cracking in the process. It was too late to induce a sleep which was hesitant to come.

Next to the dazed brunette, the blood eyed boy kept a watchful gaze on the girl, noting the unease she perpetuated whenever she wasn't sipping on her coffee. He'd popped his earbuds in, blocking out the background noise with metal core, the only thing his constantly ears could really hear over the ever present ringing. The clash, the screams - it all rang with his ears, creating a separate plane within his mind, clam, serene. Calm...serene...an uneasy and rigid moron next to him...

For a reason unknown to himself, Bakugo jabbed Ayumi in the side, then shoved the right side earbud to her.

Wide eyes didn't falter; a green and bruised hand was extended, brushing the cream one with a large bark but small bite, the quiver at the contact noticeable to both parties involved. A quick look down at his lock screen left Ayumi snickering at the boy, the skull and crossbones just too much for her to handle. A grumble from the bashful boy and the two unpaired hands recoiled, Bakugo pressing his head to the seat before him, Ayumi looking out the window, wincing at the sun as it acid washed the sky.

"Do you know this song?"

"I don't listen to music."

A guitar solo played through the buds, reverberating within the empty space between the two. The boy with the metal core bit his cheek, unable to hold back an assault of questions. A desire to learn her secrets, to be worthy of the information, to know why she held herself in such a manner boiled over into, "Oi. What's wrong with you."

He could see her reflection waver a bit in the window's lighting. Ayumi shifted a bit, then, lightly inquired, "Hey, Bakugo. Are you nervous?"

Bakugo's eyes burst open, the hot and raw emotion shining in them enough to burn through Ayumi's defenses, straight into her soul. "I don't need to be." The sheer confidence in his tone put the brunette beside the boy at ease, the methodic beat of the drums playing over their conversation. They didn't speak again for the rest of the night because they didn't need to. Guitar, drums, screams - that was enough.

And so, Ayumi abandoned her sheep, instead counting her classmates, one, two, three, hoping, earnestly, that they weren't lambs being led into a foretold slaughter.