The couple walked hand in hand towards the shopping plaza, a comfortable silence falling upon them. Despite their previous fight revolving around miscommunication, there seemed to be no reason for them to speak now.
The not-so-subtle sidelong glances at each other. The firm squeezes of their intertwined hands each time they stopped at a crosswalk. The way that they both seemed to walk closer and closer together.
All of these silent gestures were more than good enough communication for the both of them.
Upon reaching the shopping plaza, the two stopped to look at each other. "I believe I have a substantial understanding of our classmates' personalities. I'm going to assume that they planned something for us regardless of whether or not you objected?" Ayano asked.
Bakugou mumbled some obscenities as he dug into his back pockets, confirming her suspicions. The boy had a rather irritating one-sided conversation with their classmates who believed they had the right to barge in on their date plans. It was mostly just Bakugou trying to shove them out of his room and their classmates refusing to relent, lecturing him about what constitutes a 'good date.'
The couple looked down at the pair of movie tickets, Bakugou with disgust and Ayano with her usual apathy tinged with a bit of confusion.
The tickets were for an obnoxious and over-the-top romantic film that was currently very popular among teen girls. That is, teen girls that aren't like Ayano.
The young inventor tilted her head, blinking a few times before speaking. "Well…it appears that our classmates do not have a substantial understanding of our personalities. That, or they have completely disregarded our tastes. Unfortunately, I have no interest in watching this film but I am willing to if you want to."
"Fuck, no." Was Bakugou's immediate response. He knew that she wouldn't be interested in such garbage anyways, but he was no less relieved that they wouldn't have to sit through two hours of some froufrou movie. "What the hell were they thinking?" He grumbled.
"I suppose they thought this would be an appropriate movie for a date. It appears that this theater has couples' seating, as these tickets are for such seats." Ayano surmised, pointing to the print on the tickets. "Although, it would be a shame to ignore their good intentions. Perhaps we can go to the theater and request an exchange for tickets to another movie."
Bakugou nodded in approval, beginning to walk the short distance towards the movie theater. Upon reaching the ticket booth, Ayano decided to do the talking for obvious reasons. The ash blond stayed silent beside her until he heard whispers from a group of boys nearby.
"Hey, is that who I think it is?"
"Woah! No way! That's him, right?"
"It's got to be!"
The topic of their whispered conversation grumbled. After this long, people still ogled him because of his performance at the Sports Festival. His attitude at the closing ceremony still lives on in infamy.
"Yeah! It's the kid from the sludge incident!"
Bakugou instantly turned his head to the group of boys, giving them a glare even worse than the one he gave All Might at the Sports Festival. People whispering about him because of the Sports Festival was one thing, but bringing up the sludge incident was even more angering.
He was about to give them a piece of his mind when he felt a squeeze on the hand still holding Ayano's. She gave him a look from the corner of her eye and then quickly returned to negotiating with the man stationed at the ticket booth.
The blond released an aggravated sigh. Those boys were lucky that he wasn't alone, otherwise they would have been pummeled into the ground already.
He took a look at Ayano to calm down as she spoke to the ticket booth attendant. His usual angry features softened as he stared at her. He didn't need to get into a fight right now. Not when they were in the middle of their last date before she went to I-Island. She deserved better.
Bakugou was able to keep his temper under control until he heard some more whispers from the group of boys.
"Yikes! He's even worse in person!"
"Yeah, but who's that next to him? I didn't know he had a girlfriend?"
"Wait! Isn't that the support girl from the U.A. Sports Festival?"
"Hey, you're right! I almost didn't recognize her. She's way prettier in person!"
This time, not even the feeling of Ayano's hand in his could stop him from pouncing on the boys. "YOU GOT A PROBLEM, HUH?! WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS, YOU FUCKERS!"
After receiving some money from the attendant, Ayano quickly bowed in appreciation and followed after Bakugou. Before he could do irreparable damage to the boys, she pulled back on his shirt collar, slightly choking him. "I apologize for his lack of manners. I hope he has not disturbed you too much." She bowed politely before taking away a pouting Bakugou.
"It seems you are unable to go a single day without some sort of altercation." Ayano accused.
"I didn't like the way they were looking at you…" Bakugou grumbled as he looked away like a little boy who didn't think he was ever in the wrong. Ayano almost laughed at how childish he looked right now.
Although she was admonishing him for his actions, she was also a bit proud of him. After all, she had heard what he heard. Despite being reminded of the sludge incident that he hates so much, he held back for her sake.
She gave a small smile. "I appreciate the concern, but that does not give you the right to get physical with people. Anyways, thank you for trying to 'protect my honor,' as others would put it. Try to be a little more civil next time though, please." She gave him a quick peck to the cheek before counting the money she received from the ticket booth attendant.
Bakugou was stunned momentarily before quickly recovering. He grabbed her chin, pulling her face up so that he could aggressively kiss her. "…You call that a kiss?" He breathed out as he pulled away.
"We are in public. I was trying to be modest." She answered. "Who cares? People can learn to mind their own business." He scoffed in response.
Ayano just shook her head in disapproval. "I attempted to exchange the tickets for another movie, but there was not one that I thought would interest us. Instead, I just received a refund to repay whoever bought the tickets in the first place."
Already, the date wasn't going as intended. Not only did Bakugou attack someone, but their plan to watch a movie also failed. He knew he shouldn't have trusted their classmates! "Then we have around two hours to just do something else. You're not hungry yet, right?" He asked as he glanced at his watch.
"That is correct. It is still a bit too early for lunch." Ayano answered, squeezing his hand gently. "I wouldn't mind just walking around with you for a while." She suggested, smiling up at him.
Bakugou flinched in surprise, blushing a bit. "You sure know how to say some embarrassing things with such a straight face…" He mumbled, but squeezed her hand back nonetheless.
"I only speak the truth." The girl smiled triumphantly, pulling him along towards a destination neither of them knew.
Unfortunately, they didn't even walk a couple of meters before screams of terror and cries for help reached their ears. They turned towards the source to see people running from what seemed to be large, mutated insects.
Bakugou immediately let go of Ayano's hand. His first instinct was to go find the villain behind the chaos, but he stopped himself when he thought about her. Shouldn't his first instinct be to ensure his girlfriend's safety and lead her out of harm's way? He turned to do just that, only to be surprised at the sight.
Ayano strapped on an ear piece that she had hidden in the strands of her hair. She pulled out another ear piece hidden within her hair, handing it to Bakugou as she bent down to retrieve her projection wristband inside her right boot. She strapped it on, digging into her other boot to find a small vial of reddish-orange pellets. They were the mini explosives she used during the U.A. Sports Festival. Lifting up her shirt slightly, she revealed a few of the electronic disks she used during the U.A. Entrance Exam tucked into the waistband of her skirt.
"I couldn't take many of my inventions because of the objections from the other girls, so I had to hide them. It isn't much, but these will have to do." The young inventor explained as she tapped on her projection wristband, a holographic screen appearing above it. She looked up to see a somewhat shocked Bakugou with the extra ear piece still laying in his palm.
"You have your provisional hero license now, don't you?" She asked rhetorically, smirking at him. "Go make use of it then."
Bakugou smirked back as he clenched his fingers over the ear piece, his heart almost fluttering at her words.
Hot damn, did he love this girl.
He dashed off towards the source of the screams, putting the ear piece in.
Ayano ran into a nearby building, quickly ascending the stairs to gain access to the roof. "Katsuki, do you read me?" She spoke as she ran, seeing him below her. "Loud and clear." He responded, beginning to use his quirk to give him a burst of speed.
"Behind you, four o'clock." She quickly spoke. Bakugou instantly turned in that direction, blasting one of the insects heading towards him.
The girl tapped on the keyboard displayed on her arm from her projection wristband. She looked down towards the ground as she ran across rooftops. The projected screen displayed whatever information it could as she hovered it over one of the huge insects chasing a civilian. A crosshair appeared on the screen, locking onto the monster. One of the explosive pellets shot out from her wristband, hitting its mark and causing the bug to explode.
"All of these insects appear to be mutated in a similar way, and they all seem to be coming from the same general direction. This leads me to believe that this is the work of one villain." She shot another mutated insect as she explained. "Given the radius of the attack, I think we can assume that the quirk user must be using a higher vantage point in order to observe all of the destruction. I'm running across buildings to see if I can spot them. Handle the groundwork in case my prediction is incorrect and protect the civilians with the other heroes."
Hearing his grunt of compliance, Ayano focused her efforts on scanning rooftops. As the two ran and fought their way through, there were more and more insects which was a good indicator of the source of all of the chaos.
Eventually, Ayano spotted the perpetrator. "Katsuki! He's on the building with the water tank!" "On it!"
Ayano gave herself away when she had to contact Bakugou, alerting the villain of her presence. She threw her electronic disks at the villain but he was able to dodge away from them easily, causing them to lodge into the rooftop.
The young inventor then aimed at him with her wristband, another explosive pellet coming from it. He was able to dodge from that as well, the mini explosive hitting the water tank instead. Water gushed out from the gaping hole from the explosion, flowing onto the rooftop and falling over the ledges.
"Really?! This is what the heroes send after me?! An amateur?!" The villain scoffed, his shoes splashing into the water as he landed.
There wasn't a single bit of concern on Ayano's face as she smirked at him. She simply pressed a button on her projection wristband, activating the electronic disks still lodged into the rooftop. The disks sent out an electric shock, the electricity surging through the water and into the unsuspecting villain. As he cried out in agony, Ayano spoke, "I suppose you could consider me an amateur if you wanted to, but…he certainly isn't."
In that moment, Bakugou appeared to finish him off. "Howitzer Impact!"
A flurry of sparks and explosions flew about in every direction. After the smoke cleared, Ayano saw Bakugou lifting the knocked-out villain by his shirt collar. They smiled at each other, the excitement clear in their eyes. They would have admired each other for longer if it weren't for the voices of pro-heroes beneath them.
With the villain unconscious, his quirk was inactivated and the insects all returned to their normal states. The couple returned to the streets, the villain hoisted over Bakugou's shoulder. The blond was pulled and surrounded by heroes and reporters alike, the reporters itching for an interview and the heroes attempting to recruit him as a sidekick.
Ayano stayed behind, hidden among the crowd of intrigued civilians. Technically, she was still a civilian herself and not a hero. Getting involved would only get her lectured by the pro heroes for her 'recklessness' and garner her unnecessary attention.
Besides, she was perfectly content watching her boyfriend being praised for his acts of heroism. It gave her a surge of pride like no other.
Bakugou finally escaped from the heroes and reporters by threatening to leave him alone or risk getting blown up. Finding Ayano in the crowd, she smiled at him. "I believe now would be a good time for lunch." She proposed.
She threaded her fingers between his, squeezing his hand.
He squeezed back, leading her to a nearby café.