The rest of class 1-A and class 1-H were escorted to the basement monitor room. Ayano stared at the multiple screens in anxiety, conflict swimming inside her head.
She wasn't sure who she should be supporting. To others, the most obvious choice would be Bakugou. She made his costume, after all. The support students were observing the training as well to see just how well their work was. If the students of class 1-A performed well in this exercise, part of that could be attributed to their partners from 1-H, affecting their grade.
Unfortunately, things were not that simple.
In terms of relationships, Ayano had a much stronger one with Midoriya, having much more contact with him over the years. She had protected him from Bakugou's bullying countless times and had always supported him in his journey to become a hero.
However, there was nobody that she believed in more than Bakugou.
It was like this since they were children. His perseverance and incredible drive to be at the top drew her to him, and him to her. It was just extenuating circumstances that drew the two apart.
Ayano's inner conflict was interrupted when Bakugou performed a sneak attack on Midoriya.
It seemed as though she needn't worry though. She couldn't hear their conversation because there was no sound, but from Midoriya's demeanor and stance, it looked like he was truly sticking up to Bakugou.
Midoriya was the one who changed for the better. Bakugou hadn't.
Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides. Her eyes were scrunched closed as well, hoping to shut out the conflict. Releasing a deep breath to calm herself, she looked back at the screens with resolve reflected in her eyes.
Ayano's worries soon returned though when she saw Bakugou lift his right arm into the air. She forced her way to the front. "Stop the training!" She shouted frantically at All Might. He hesitated, not fully understanding her panic until he heard Bakugou's words through the micro transceiver.
That moment of hesitation from him was enough for her to make her own decision. Ayano yanked the microphone from him and shouted, "Katsuki! Don't you dare use that on him or I will never forgive you!"
It was too late, though. Bakugou unleashed the massive blast from his grenade bracers, destroying and shaking the building like it was in an earthquake. Everyone's eyes looked on in disbelief at the monitors and then to Ayano. Whisperings and murmurings could be heard from students of both classes.
"Are you serious?!" "I thought this was just practice!" "Are the support students even allowed to make something so dangerous!?" "Sasaki is just as crazy as that blond kid!"
Ayano was seething. Furious. Livid.
She pushed the microphone back into the man's hands. "You need to end this training. Now." Her glare was enough to shake even All Might a bit. Kirishima shouted in agreement, noting Bakugou's killing intent.
At his refusal to stop the match, he received an incredulous look from Ayano. Any other teacher would have stopped it immediately after that blast. What was stopping him?
The girl received her answer, watching the final blows between her two childhood friends. At the last moment, Midoriya released a punch up at the ceiling with massive air pressure.
It was the first time she had seen him use his 'miraculous quirk,' but it didn't feel like the first time. Oddly enough, it felt very…familiar.
Ayano's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened as realization dawned on her.
Where Midoriya's quirk suddenly came from. All Might's sudden appearance in their district and his sudden teaching position at U.A. His reason for not stopping the training when any other teacher would.
Her wide eyes continuously glanced between the teacher and the monitors, still trying to process all of this information. She was struggling between rage and shock. Not only did she have to deal with her anger at Bakugou, but she had to calmly and collectively handle this revelation.
Overall, rage came out on top. She would deal with Midoriya and All Might's relation later. For now, she had to give Bakugou a piece of her mind.
"Well, I'd say the V.I.P in this battle was Iida!" After a lengthy explanation from Yaoyorozu, All Might went on. "W-Well, let's give the support students a chance to assess the performance of their costumes." Junk Master joined in. "We'll start with Iida's costume!"
His partner expressed any questions or concerns for the costume. They openly spoke of the capabilities and possible unexplored opportunities the costume could have in the future. The support student received critiques about the costume from both the students of class 1-A and 1-H as well as from both teachers. Afterwards, the classes moved on to discuss Uraraka's costume, going through similar critiques and observations.
Two students were particularly silent throughout the entire process.
Bakugou was mulling over his defeat and at Yaoyorozu's words. Ayano chose not to partake in the aftermath review of the costumes, attempting to reel in her anger instead. It seemed to multiply at the site of Bakugou in her costume.
Finally, it came to Bakugou and Ayano's turn to discuss the costume. There was an extremely tense and palpable silence surrounding the room. Not a single person moved a centimeter, feeling the fury radiating out of Ayano from her every pore. She was breathing slowly and largely, trying to calm herself but to no avail. Her hands were clenched tightly beside her, nails digging in so hard that they almost drew blood. She could hear her teeth grinding together and feel the blood in her veins boiling.
The blond had yet to meet her gaze. His eyes were downcast since coming back from the nearly destroyed building. He wasn't going to be the first to speak. In fact, he had nothing to say to her. His mind was elsewhere, and Ayano's anger appeared to be the least of his problems.
That is, until she acted.
Ayano suddenly lunged forward, throwing a hard punch right into his left jaw. Before he could fall backwards from the force, her arm thrust forward to grab him by the collar of his shirt. Using it, she pulled him along, took two big steps forward, and slammed him into the metal wall behind him with every ounce of her strength. He slid down the wall and didn't get back up.
Before she could do more, Kirishima rushed forward to hold her in place, locking his arms underneath each of her own. Ayano, however, did not struggle. She was breathing slightly more heavily and her head was hanging, causing her fringe and its shadow to cover most of her face.
She simply shifted her head just enough to look at Kirishima behind her. "Release your hands." He was sure that she didn't have a quirk, but he swore those ferocious eyes could kill.
In his shock, he unknowingly loosened his grip on her, allowing her to pull herself away. Ayano walked back up to Bakugou, looking down at him with contempt as he sat there.
It was the worst look that he had ever gotten from her. Even worse than the time she told him that he could no longer push Midoriya around anymore.
Still standing above him, she finally spoke. "…The top hero?" She scoffed. "Get over yourself. What kind of hero acts like you? Your petty and inflated ego. Your conceited superiority complex. Your reckless and barbaric actions."
"I thought you could change. I was wrong. I wouldn't peg you for a hero even if you were the worst one." A look of horror was beginning to dawn on his face.
"I'm issuing Section IV, Clause 26 of the Support Items Act." Junk Master jolted in surprise. "Hey! Sasaki, kiddo! Are you sure about this?!" She ignored him, beginning to walk out of the monitor room.
The students of class 1-A looked at her teacher in confusion. "What does that mean?" He frowned. "That part of the Support Items Act states, in the event that a support department or individual support item creator deems the hero or user of their support item to be unheroic…the creator has all rights and authority to remove the item in question."
"It was first implemented as a way for the government to keep tabs on the actions of heroes when the use of quirks and heroes were not as widely accepted as it is today. That's not a problem anymore, but this part of the act is still used by support departments today. It's very rare though because they can't issue that order unless the user truly defies their beliefs by using the items in basically villainous ways, which almost never happens."
"In other words…Sasaki believes that Bakugou and his actions are truly too dangerous for her to give him the costume." Many of the students gasped. "T-Then that means…!"
"I'm taking my costume back." Ayano finished for them, glaring at Bakugou over her shoulder.
His eyes were wide in shock and horror. His mouth was open, lips quivering, and on the verge of hyperventilating. His hands were shaking in either anger or panic. Ayano turned her head back forward. She walked out of the monitor room without another word, the swish and click of the door echoing through his ears.
It was an automatic sliding door, but it had felt as though she slammed it right in his face.