To be honest, Akemi felt a little ashamed to win like this. She has an idea what Aizawa-sensei wants her to do (well at least she thinks she knew). He probably wanted to train up her hand-to-hand and quirkless combat, because Akemi is no idiot and knows that without her quirk she is as good as useless, well, either that, or he noticed her fear of sleeping gas and wanted her to face it.

But Akemi is a coward, turning off her quirk scares her, going without her quirk makes her feel insecured and Akemi'd die before she willingly walks into sleeping gas.

...Plus she really, really didn't want to risk her arm again.

The inability to face her own problems probably sums up about 50% of her being, really, Akemi thinks Aas she jogs out of the changing room, not even bothering to finish doing her hair. One of her many headbands are held between her teeth as she hurriedly began combing her fingers through her loose hair, trying but failing to get it smoothed out.

She's headed for the infirmary, where she knows Izuku is going to be. Seriously she is a little worried about him, paired up with Bakugou. There's just... So many things wrong with their relationship that if she were him, she'd have hated him and pushed him away without hesitation. And she really, really don't understand.

Objectively, of course, Akemi can see why he did so. She can see this playing out in a movie, written out in a book. But Akemi is selfish, Akemi is a coward and while she knows how these people think, she just don't understand.

How can a person still run back to their abuser with this false hope and kindness? How is his warm little heart take it? How can he just try again and again and again? It's illogical and stupid and it's going to end with someone horribly hurt, and that person won't be Bakugou.

And that... That scares her. Akemi's pace quickens, they're up against Toshinori-san for god's sake, that's nothing to scoff at and Akemi is scared. What if he didn't want to work with him? What if he hits Izuku? What if he gets hurt? The numourous 'what-ifs' stutters to a halt as she turns the corner and there stood Izuku, standing next to Bakugou with injuries that clearly came from explosions.

A familiar anger rises in her, she'd felt this every night, in her ever reoccurring nightmares. She'd felt it every time she closes her eyes to sleep. It've kept her from getting any proper rest beside short naps and she had learned to fear it. When the anger rises bile and horror follows and the anger sinks away, giving way to disgust and shame.

She takes the headband away from her teeth and slides it up her wrist with the other four. And just as she was about to call out, she stutters to a halt.

Izuku offers Bakugou a hand. And she had to blink. What? The other teen seemed taken back, but after a moment, he grudgingly took the greenette's hand, and shook it.

Akemi gapes. Her eyes wide as she stared. That must be her hair getting in the way of her eyes, there's no way Bakugou'd just... He just... What? She blinks and closes her mouth, tucking a long lock of hair behind her ear as she slowly approached the duo.

"I-Izuku?" She hesitantly calls out, what in the world just... What? The two whirls around and the somewhat calm look on Bakugou's face vanishes as he spots her. Izuku, on the other hand, was blinking in surprise.

"Akemi, you're back..." He stares at her, blinking in slight wonder, "Woah, I didn't realize your hair was this long."

"Wha-" She looks back and her hair swings, stopping just a little above her mid-calf, and Akemi suddenly realizes that none of them in her class, with the exception of Tenya, had seen her with her hair down. She tucks the long lock of hair away, too tired to act, and forces a pathetic half smile, "Yeah, but what... just... What?" She stared at Bakugou, who, too, is staring at her way-too-long-hair-which-had-fallen-on-her-face-again, but in irritation.

"Kimura." He grudgingly nods, and Akemi jolts, is he actually calling her by... She shakes her head at her father's last name and snorts, seriously...

"Golden Eyes is just fine, Bakugou." She sighs, "I don't want to hear my father's name."

A look Akemi couldn't identify flashes past the blonde's eyes, and Akemi glances towards Izuku just in time to catch his expression darkening. The explosive teen spares her a look one last time, then storms off to who-knows-where.

After a moment, Akemi walked towards Izuku and presses on her lips. "Izuku..." She started, taking his arm and examining the burnt parts of his costume, "What..."

"I..." Izuku seemed a little hesitant, but he's smiling. And that alone made Akemi's heart twist a little. It's not one of his nervous smiles, but small, soft and genuine. And the sheer rareness of these smiles just made her heart break. "I think I've fixed it." He stops, and shakes his head, "No, not fix, I mean, I think I've took a step, and I think... I think we might actually be able to... to be friends again."

The fond look he sends to the end of the hallway where Bakugou disappeared was not unlike those she'd give Hibiki. And that made her feel... worried? Conflicted? Akemi's head spins, she blinks away the blur in her eyes and stands up straighter, fiddling with the bands around her wrist. "Come on, lets... Let's get to the observations room." She says, a little weakly.

The way Bakugou treated Izuku had always disgusted her, and from day one she had disliked the teen. After the their first combat training, Akemi had found her dislike for the teen do nothing, but grow.

Sure, she saved him at the USJ. But that's differen't. There's a difference between willing to let someone die, and disliking them. She doesn't exactly hate Bakugou, but she dislikes him. A lot. There are few people she hates, and all of which she has no problem killing. She will gladly bring a knife down her father's head any day, but homicide is messy and she'd rather endure it. These are things she don't need to fix, someone's gonna stumble upon his work one day, someone will see what's going on and act.

And Akemi won't have to do anything. She thinks back, her mind drifts back to that day she made the mistake, the mistake of letting that anger consume her, the mistake that costed her so much, that she couldn't regret, that still haunts her to today.

She looks down on her hands, and watches how her fingers move. She remember how it felt like, and she will never forget how it felt then. The slick, sticky liquid and metallic smell, the soft, silent dripping that still echos in her head, the bright crimson contrasting against the grass, and she'd just stared. Just like how she's now staring at those horrible, horrible red stains that just. Wouldn't. Leave.

One video tape. One security footage. And she is left a ruined puppet. She can't do anything. She can't say anything with something like this hanging over her head. She watches as Izuku chats animatedly with Ochako-chan, and feels her heart twist.

How can she tell them she'd done something like this, and felt nothing? Their figures blur. Akemi closes her eyes, turn on her heels, and leaves.


Current Poll Results~ (from both the poll and the reviews)

Akemi's paring:

Todoroki Shouto: 17

Midoriya Izuku: 2

Iida Tenya: 3

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Ueno Hibiki: 3

Bakugou Katsuki: 3

Iida Tensei: 1

Others (Please state in review!)


Hibiki's pairing:

Todoroki Shouto: 0

Midoriya Izuku: 0

Iida Tenya: 4

Seiba Hiroi: 0

Kimura Akemi: 3

Shinsou Hitoshi: 7

Others (Please state in review!)


Whatever you're thinking is probably accurate. I'm evil. *Grins*

Poor Akemi.

Onto the comments!

To darkpaladin89: gulping is right, Hun, gulping is right. Tremble before Akemi's infinite power.

To you don't knowme: Yeah, English is my second language but compared to Cantonese/Chinese I'm actually better at English. I can speak four languages, Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Japanese. Though I'm still learning Japanese and isn't that fluent in it. I've fully planned out what's going to happen until Kamino, and I think you all will like it! *Smiles brightly*

To Thundqh: *Grins*