"Ah." That was the only acknowledgement that Ayano gave to the ash blond. After exiting through her front door, she was immediately met with the sight of Bakugou who just happened to pass by her house on his walk to school.
She was only mildly surprised. They had always lived close to one another so this wasn't unusual, but they hadn't walked to school together since they were small children.
Normally, she would have waited for Midoriya to walk with him, but he revealed his training schedule to her. Having to wake up at 4:00 AM to begin his exercise, he told her that she needn't wait for him. Who knew that she would run into Bakugou on her first day back?
"Morning." Ayano greeted tentatively. Bakugou merely grunted in response and returned to facing forward with his permanent scowl. Leaving him be, the brown-haired girl returned to her daily morning routine by pulling out another one of her creations.
They easily fell into step with one another, Bakugou seemingly ignoring her presence and going the same pace as he was before, Ayano walking and working beside him. "I'm glad that you are okay." She spoke again.
"I didn't need your help." Came the boy's immediate reply. "I suppose you didn't, but I don't see how that was, in any way, a proper response to my statement." The girl replied in complete confidence, having expected this kind of behavior.
Bakugou's brow furrowed even more. "I didn't need your help…" He stated again. "…But…thanks…" He mumbled the last part. To nearly any other person, they would've thought that he was saying it out of some sort of obligation or that it pained him to do so, but Ayano knew better.
They didn't stop walking, but Ayano took a good, solid look at him. He still hadn't looked at her once, but she could tell that his feelings were no less genuine.
That was the thing with him.
He had never treated her poorly.
Even when his quirk manifested along with his superiority complex, he never treated her poorly. Surely, his attitude worsened but he didn't behave that much differently with Ayano. In fact, the only reason why their relationship had somewhat soured was because Ayano chose to defend Midoriya.
Midoriya had to face the brunt of Bakugou's anger all the time, but Ayano only had to do so when she was around the both of them. It seemed as though she were merely in the 'splash zone' when Bakugou decided to unleash his quirk on the other boy.
The blond had bullied and tormented Midoriya, but he didn't dare lay a hand on Ayano. He would threaten her when she got in the way, but the girl soon came to the realization that they were always empty threats. He never followed through with them. Never.
Eventually, they just grew distant from one another. Bakugou did so for whatever reasons and Ayano did so because she protected Midoriya.
Choosing not to respond with a 'You're welcome' since that would probably just anger him, Ayano remained silent while she dug inside her bag. She pulled out something that looked like a large flower bulb made out of some sort of metal and handed it to Bakugou, causing him to finally look at her in what she assumed to be confusion.
It was a little hard to tell with his constant scowling.
They stood still, with her staring right at him. Her arm was still outstretched with the metal flower bulb sitting snug in her palm. Bakugou simply stared at it with furrowed brows and slanted eyes.
Growing a bit impatient, Ayano pulled back her arm slightly and stretched it out in offering again, hoping to jerk him out of whatever mode he was in.
The boy slowly lifted his hand and took the object from her. He then laid it across his own palm. After staring at it for a couple more seconds, he looked at Ayano with an eyebrow raised, silently asking what exactly he should do with this.
"Use your quirk." She commanded but there really wasn't much of an authoritative tone to it. He still held her gaze but then shook his head, deciding that it was better not to question her. He knew from childhood that it would be futile.
Barely even concentrating, Bakugou let out his quirk on the hand holding the machine. The explosion was very small, almost like a poof. It was similar to the tiny blasts he would emit just to intimidate Midoriya.
Nothing happened.
He looked at Ayano expectantly. She scoffed, as if insulted. "I meant more than that. My inventions aren't so fragile." Just like him, she gave a single raised brow in expectance.
A challenge.
Bakugou showed off one of his villain-like smirks. He wasn't one to back down from a challenge, and he was no stranger to Ayano's confrontations either. Well, if she asked for it…
Deciding to really let loose, he yelled while unleashing his quirk. "DIE!" His shouts were slightly muffled by the sounds of his explosive palm.
The flower bulb opened, although not fully. The inside was a vibrant reddish-orange, much like the color of fire. The center of the 'flower' held a small cylinder with holes in it. Shortly after, a burst of actual fire shot out of the holes, forming a candle flame.
He opened his mouth to ridicule her but Ayano's voice cut him off before he even started. "Before you think it's just some dumb candle, it does have another purpose." Bakugou immediately shut his mouth, eye twitching in slight annoyance.
"It's a machine to gauge the strength of your quirk – your explosive strength. In other words, it gauges the ability of your explosions to move surrounding material." She pointed at the petals of the 'flower.' "Since the explosions weren't strong enough, the flower didn't open completely."
She then pointed at the flame. "It also factors in the amount of heat produced. The larger the flame, the stronger your quirk. It can also measure the strength depending on the color of the flame, as well as how long it burns for."
Following her explanations, Bakugou clicked his tongue. He was clearly frustrated because the flower wasn't completely open, the flame was rather small, and it was only light in color. Ayano just rolled her eyes and continued walking. "There's no point if you can get it all on the first try."
"…The hell is this for?" He finally asked. "It was supposed to be a 'get well' gift for that villain mishap…" The boy clicked his tongue once more, not wanting to be reminded about the sludge incident. "…But I guess it's a little late for that, seeing as it has been over three weeks since I've seen you. You also seem perfectly fine, but that gift would go to waste otherwise."
Ayano went back to working on her other creation while she walked. "I would have given it to you sooner, but I was stuck in the hospital and you didn't visit." Bakugou's face seemed to contort at that, Ayano taking note of this. She had no malice in her words and she had no ill intentions. She was just merely stating a fact.
Unbeknownst to her, he actually had visited her. Once, while she was still unconscious, and a second time while she was with Midoriya. He had never made his presence known, for whatever reason.
Deciding not to mention his reaction, Ayano continued. "Before you mock me on my choice of design, it could have been anything. I just chose a flower, simply because that is normally what you give to people as a 'get well' gift when they are in the hospital or injured."
The girl saw him nod in what she assumed to be either understanding or some sort of appreciation in the corner of her eye. Bakugou wouldn't be caught dead saying 'Thanks' two times in one day. "You can use it however you wish. Throw it out, keep it in storage, burn it – if you can, that is."
She really didn't care what he did with it, so long as he understood why she was giving it to him. It was just a bit of fun to challenge him like this because she knew how riled up he would get. It would also help her to understand any improvements she could possibly make for future inventions of a similar type.
As expected, a bunch more explosions sounded off. Even so, the flower barely opened up more and the flame stayed relatively the same. Ayano heard his growls of frustration and tilted her lips upwards ever so slightly.
Returning to her usual impassive expression before he could see, she sighed. "Give it up. It's meant to withstand much more than what you are dishing out. Also, there's no point in doing consecutive explosions. You're not going to get any stronger by the second and that's only going to tire you out."
Bakugou muttered to himself, obviously irritated. Not willing to concede, he continued releasing explosions to try and make the machine budge. Ayano took a glance at him and then looked forward again, a slight gleam in her eyes.
The rest of their walk to school was spent in silence, save for the sounds of Bakugou's explosions and his frustrations as well as Ayano's tinkering.
"Ah." Bakugou finally tore his eyes away from the flower to look at the source of the noise. "There is another thing about the design that I forgot to mention." She continued walking through the front entrance of the school and towards the shoe lockers, not sparing him a glance.
"The design is based off of the Nasturtium flower. You probably don't care for it too much, but I chose it for a number of reasons. I believe its colors rather suit your…'fiery' personality." She didn't mention anything about how it also complimented the color of his eyes, but she hesitated a bit to say the next part.
"…In the language of flowers, the Nasturtium represents conquest or victory in battle…" Opening her shoe locker and quickly exchanging her shoes, she continued in an almost unnoticeable quieter voice, "…Good luck on the U.A. entrance exam." The girl, who still hadn't looked at the boy and managed to maintain her impassive attitude the whole time, closed the locker and continued walking to the classroom.
Bakugou had a near complete blank face, his eyes and mouth a bit wider than usual. Quickly returning to normal, he began muttering obscenities under his breath while shoving the gift into his pocket and walking to his own shoe locker.
There was an unnoticed, but unmistakable tint of pink upon his cheeks.