"Kazumi, do you want anything to eat?" her dad asked while he looked in the refrigerator to see what food they had.
The silver haired girl looked up from the book she was reading. She pursed her lips in thought as she set the book down to free her hands. After a moment, she waved a hand to get her dad's attention, then signed "Just a sandwich is fine."
"Got it."
Just then, the door opened and her mom entered the house with an especially bright smile. "Honey! I've got big news!" she called.
"What is it?" her dad asked, moving to meet the woman in the hallway.
Curious, Kazumi got up from her seat at the table and followed him. Her mom kissed her dad's cheek and then scooped the girl into a hug. "Kazumi, you're going to be a big sister!"
The girl's eyes widened as the words replayed in her head. Meanwhile, her dad was tearing up as he grabbed her mom's hand. "You're pregnant?"
The woman nodded. "I just found out today. That's what the doctor appointment was for."
"You're pregnant. You're pregnant!" the man repeated over and over, his lips spreading into a wide grin. "You're pregnant!"
As her parents celebrated with plans, questions, tears, and laughter, Kazumi watched with an uncertain expression. She was going to be a big sister? What would it be like to be the older sibling? Would she be able to protect her future sibling properly? She shuffled her feet and glanced at her parents one more time. They looked overjoyed at the news. Not wanting to drag the mood down, she forced a smile on her face and walked over to hug her mom again.
"How are you feeling, Kazumi?" the woman asked.
"I'm very excited," the girl signed back.
"You're Chinen, right?" the girl with pink hair, pink skin, and horns asked, grabbing Kazumi's hands excitedly as soon as she had stepped into the classroom.
"Uh, y-yes. That's me," Kazumi affirmed with an awkward smile.
"I didn't get to introduce myself yet. I'm Mina Ashido, but you can call me Mina! You were pretty cool, yesterday! Do you have a fire quirk?"
"Not exactly…. I can take on the complementary opposite of another's quirk by touching them."
"Ooh! Doubly cool!" Mina exclaimed. "So since I can make acids, does that mean you can make bases if you activated your quirk right now?"
"P-probably…?"
The girl tilted her head, amber eyes regarding Kazumi questioningly. "Who did you touch to get a fire ability?"
"Ah…."
Kazumi trailed off as she shyly looked away. However, her gaze ended up wandering to the part of the room where Todoroki was currently sitting at his desk and staring out the window. As if sensing her stare, his face turned just enough for his heterochromatic eyes to briefly meet her violet ones. Kazumi quickly looked away, her face beginning to feel warm. Unfortunately, Mina noticed.
"Aww, you're blushing! Does this mean it involves a boy?" she sang teasingly. "Wait, I got it! You touched Todoroki, didn't you?"
"Ashido—"
"It's Mina."
"M-Mina, please don't shout," Kazumi pleaded. She hid her face in her hands with a soft groan. "I did touch Todoroki, but it was really embarrassing when I asked him if he would allow it, and I don't want to think about it anymore."
Mina chuckled and patted the girl's shoulder. "Aww, you're so cute, Chinen. All right, I'll stop bugging you about it, but if you ever think you're in need of a wingwoman, be sure to come straight to me! Wherever romance calls, I'm there to answer!" She emphasized her last statement with a playful wink.
Kazumi sighed. However, it wasn't one out of annoyance. As Mina began to talk more about how excited she was to attend U.A. and learn more about how to become a hero, the violet eyed girl felt herself smile.
The first half of the day was full of ordinary classes. Just like in any other grade, it quickly became clear which students took their studies more seriously than the others, Iida, Midoriya, and Yaoyorozu shining the most so far. Kazumi never felt bored because she was seated right between Midoriya and Bakugou, and so she heard the green haired boy's mutterings from behind her and the blond's angry grumblings from in front of her. It was very amusing. Occasionally she would also catch both Mina and Aoyama trying to catch her attention in silly ways from across the room.
Before she knew it, lunch came and went. The only people she had talked to thus far were Todoroki, Mina, and Aoyama, and since the blond had stayed in the classroom and she was still too nervous to speak to the peppermint haired boy, she had sat with Mina in the cafeteria.
When class resumed, Kazumi was surprised to hear a loud, familiar voice from the hallway.
"I AM… ENTERING LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
Excited chatter filled the classroom as All Might appeared through the door with his blinding smile that everyone knew and loved. Kazumi straightened in her seat, leaning forward to get a better look at the Symbol of Peace. She knew that pro-heroes taught at U.A., but she had never imagined that she would get to see All Might of all people!
The towering man marched purposefully to the front of the room. He was radiating a confidence that she greatly envied. But of course he would be confident. He had amazing powers, after all.
"This year marks your first steps toward becoming a hero!" All Might proclaimed. "And as such, today we will be doing…." He revealed a card with the activity for the day. "Battle training!"
"B-battle?" Midoriya stuttered worriedly.
"Finally, we get to fight!" Bakugou exclaimed, his body already tensing in anticipation.
All Might chuckled at everyone's lively reactions, then took out a remote control. "But first, young heroes, you need to look the part!" With a flick of a switch, compartments in the wall opened up to reveal cases numbered one through twenty-one. "Your costumes, designed according to your requests and quirk registration forms, are within whichever case has your student number. Hurry and dress, then meet me down at Ground Beta."
Everyone jumped out of their seats and rushed to grab their cases. Mina managed to snatch both hers and Kazumi's, bringing the latter's case to the shorter girl.
"Come on, Kazuchi! I can't wait to try my costume on!"
"'K-Kazuchi?'" Kazumi stuttered, a bit caught off guard.
They've known each other for less than a day and already they were on given name/nickname basis? However, she didn't have time to dwell on it for long since Mina was already bounding toward the girls' changing room, leaving Kazumi to hurry after her.
The girls chatted excitedly as they changed, talking about things like how cool it was that All Might was their teacher and what they had asked for in their costume designs. Kazumi listened quietly at first, but when she opened up her case, all the noise faded to the background.
Her costume design was simplistic, because there was very little she needed other than an outfit that was durable for all sorts of quirks, flexible to stretch in case she gained a transformation power, and easy to move in. However, there was still something about holding the outfit in her hands that made the whole hero thing feel so much more real. Kazumi's expression hardened with resolve as she changed out of her uniform and slipped the costume on.
The outfit consisted of a sleeveless top and a sort of open skirt that flared out from a belt, with the top and the skirt colored white on the right half and black on the left half to match her two-toned hair, while the colors switched sides on the belt. It also included white leggings, black boots, and the type of fingerless gloves that had a single loop to slip the middle finger into, thus leaving her fingers and palms free to activate her counterpart quirk when needed. She pulled the black glove onto her right hand and the white glove onto her left hand.
Everything fit well, but when Kazumi tugged at the fabric, she was happy to see that it could stretch further if needed. Peeking into her case one more time, she noticed a small, compact container tucked away at the bottom. When she opened it, she found some make-up—also in black and white—and a mirror attached to the inside of the lid. With a small smile, she applied small circles just below her eyes—white for her left cheek and black for her right cheek. It completed the yin-yang aesthetic she had pictured when designing the costume. Lastly, Kazumi took her hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair up into a messy bun, ensuring that—for the most part—her hair would stay out of her face during combat training.
"Kazuchi, are you ready?" Mina called.
The aforementioned girl glanced over her shoulder and hummed an affirmative. The other girls were also finished changing, and so she quickly followed them as they left the room together.
After a brief explanation of today's battle exercise (with some help from a script that All Might had brought), the class had been divided into groups of two and one group of three. From there, teams would be randomly drawn two at a time, one to represent the heroes and the other to represent the villains. The heroes had to infiltrate the villains' building and either get the fake bomb or restrain their opponents, while the villains' goal was to either protect the fake bomb until time ran out or restrain the heroes.
Kazumi was put with Hagakure and Ojiro, and while they seemed very nice, she was discouraged to see that she couldn't use her quirk on any of them. However, there was the chance that their opponents would include someone she could use.
The first teams called were Midoriya and Uraraka to be the heroes and Bakugou and Iida to be the villains. Kazumi internally grimaced in pity as she watched Midoriya's face rapidly turn pale. She couldn't blame him for that reaction, especially since Bakugou had almost attacked him yesterday. This exercise was the perfect excuse for Bakugou to act out on his anger. And judging from the dark look on the blond's face, that did seem to be his intention. Hopefully Iida could somehow keep him in line…. But that would take a miracle.
The four students prepared for the fight while the rest of the class moved to a room where they could safely watch it all. Kazumi stood by Mina and Aoyama, her gaze trained on all the screens. The soft murmur of her classmates' comments faded to the background as she focused on Midoriya and Uraraka's movements through the building. She didn't dare blink.
Only All Might had an earpiece, so no one else could hear what was going on, but Kazumi still jolted when she saw Bakugou round a corner and almost blast Midoriya's face. She jumped again when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Mina asked. "You're really tense."
"I… I'm just a little worried," Kazumi admitted sheepishly.
The pink haired girl patted her shoulder again. "I'm sure All Might will stop them if they go too far. Try to relax!"
Kazumi nodded, glancing back up at the screen to see that everyone had split up while they were talking. One screen showed Uraraka making her way through the building toward where Iida was guarding the bomb while Bakugou and Midoriya were both in other hallways. This went on for several more minutes. The heroes were running out of time.
Uraraka finally made it to the room holding the fake bomb, but Iida soon discovered her presence. At around the same time, Bakugou found Midoriya again and began lighting the building up with explosions.
As the clock ticked down, it was evident that Uraraka wouldn't be able to get the bomb fast enough as Iida moved it whenever she tried to get close, and nothing useful was lying around her since the bespectacled boy had moved everything out.
However, all attention on the room with the bomb was soon stolen when a bright light flashed on the screen that showed Bakugou and Midoriya's fight. Several students gasped in alarm at the prolonged sight of flames the ground trembled from the force of the explosion. The low rumble traveled even to where they were standing.
"This is supposed to just be a class!" the spiky haired redhead—Kirishima—exclaimed.
All Might's fist clenched around the microphone. "Young Midoriya!" he called worriedly. "Young Midoriya!"
Kazumi leaned toward the screen, searching for any sign of the green haired boy. When the smoke cleared, she found him slumped on the floor several feet away from where he had originally been standing. His figure trembled as he forced himself back up.
"Sensei, you should stop them," Kirishima said. "That Bakugou guy's crazy! At this rate, he'll kill Midoriya!"
"No. Not yet."
Kazumi's head swiveled to All Might, her violet eyes wide with surprise. No? Why the heck not? It seemed that All Might liked Midoriya, so why would he allow the boy to suffer?
The man heaved a deep sigh. "Young Bakugou, the next time you use that, I'll stop the fight and your team will lose. To attack on such a large scale while inside the building is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That is a foolish plan for both heroes and villains. You will lose points because of that."
The warning was clear. However, it was not quite well received. The blond's fists clenched tightly, then he charged at Midoriya, who still hadn't fully recovered from the prior blast. Without giving him a chance to fully prepare, Bakugou suddenly let out a smaller blast in his opponent's face while simultaneously propelling himself over him. Then he shot off another blast at Midoriya's back. He launched several more swings and punches, leaving Midoriya shaky on his feet.
Mina gasped.
Kirishima's face twisted in distress. "What was that just now?"
A soft grunt pulled everyone's attention to Todoroki, who watched everything with an apathetic stare. "He doesn't look like the type to think, but he's more precise than I expected."
"What do you mean?"
"He changed his course in a blast that doubled as a smoke screen and then shot off another one immediately after."
"Getting in a clean hit while fighting against inertia requires fine lateral adjustments to the power of the explosions," the tall girl with raven hair pulled up into a ponytail explained.
The blond with a black lightning streak in his hair sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "He's too talented. Ugh, I'm jealous."
Kazumi continued watching. Her lips pursed tighter with every punch that connected. With every flash of pain that crossed Midoriya's face, her nails dug deeper into her palms.
"Please… Sensei, make them stop, please," she pleaded.
"This is a lynching!" Mina cried. "He can capture him just by wrapping the tape around him! Why is he still beating him down?"
"Those are not the actions of a hero," Tokoyami muttered, his bird-like head dipping down in disappointment.
"I thought Midoriya was pretty amazing, too, but in terms of combat power, Bakugou is definitely a ball of natural instincts," Kaminari commented with a sigh.
Kazumi glanced at All Might with furrowed brows. Why wasn't he telling Bakugou to stop?
Suddenly, something seemed to change. Midoriya turned away from Bakugou and moved to the wall that was lined with windows.
Mina blinked in confusion. "He's running away?"
"That's not something a man should do, but he has no choice," Kirishima acknowledged with a frown. His head tilted slightly as he continued watching the screen. "But something's strange…. Why… isn't he using his quirk?"
No one answered the redhead's question. How could they? None of the students knew the answer. However, it was indeed strange that Midoriya had yet to use his power.
It looked like the viridian haired boy was yelling something at the blond. He bore a fierce expression as he raised his fists. Then, he suddenly charged at Bakugou, who immediately did the same. Kazumi's eyes widened as she saw Midoriya's arm light up with the same flashes of lightning as it did yesterday. He had finally activated his quirk.
A shared sense of dread filled the room as the two boys lunged ever closer, both of them charging up their powers in preparation for meeting at the center.
"This looks bad!" Kirishima protested. "Sensei, stop them!"
Finally relenting to the pressure, All Might lifted the mic to his mouth. "Both of you! Sto—" He suddenly cut off, apparently hearing something from the other end that caused him to hesitate.
At the last second, Midoriya's arm changed direction and swung upward. A blistering gale tore through the levels of the building, leaving a hole through all the floors plus the roof.
The other camera showed Uraraka lifting a pillar that had been freed from the force of Midoriya's quirk. Thanks to her own ability, she swung it effortlessly and sent a rain of debris flying at Iida. While he was distracted by the chunks of rock, the girl made herself weightless and jumped over him. She landed on top of the bomb just before the timer hit zero.
A heavy silence filled the room as everyone stared at the aftermath of the round. The building was wrecked. Midoriya had collapsed and Uraraka looked queasy while Iida hovered over her worriedly. Bakugou stood frozen with a wounded expression of shock.
Then, as if freeing everyone from a trance, All Might's booming voice announced the results. "The hero team… wins!"
Kazumi released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Her eyes had gone dry from how hard she had been staring at the screens, and as she blinked, tears welled up.
As All Might left to go check on Midoriya and Bakugou, everyone else burst into conversation about what they had just seen.
"That was super intense," Kirishima muttered.
Mina nodded in agreement.
Kazumi's fists slowly relaxed, though they still trembled from lingering tension. She suddenly felt tired. That had been a serious fight. Would Midoriya really be okay?
Kazumi didn't have much time to contemplate on the first fight, because her team was called up to be the villains as soon as All Might was ready to begin the next one. To her horror, they were to face Todoroki and Shoji. However, the multiple-limbed boy wasn't who she was worried about. It was Todoroki. She knew first hand from her short experience with his counterpart just how powerful his quirk was.
"I'm sorry," Kazumi apologized the moment she was alone with her other teammates.
They turned to her with confused gazes (at least she assumed so in the invisible girl's case).
"For what?" Hagakure asked.
"I don't think I can be useful in this fight. My quirk… I can't get a counterpart power from abilities gained from mutations." She rubbed her arm guiltily. "The only person in this fight with a quirk I can counterpart is Todoroki, so I don't know how much I can help you two."
"I see," Ojiro said. He smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it too much, Chinen. If we work together, we may still be able to win. After all, we're a team. Our performance doesn't have to rely entirely on one person."
"He's right!" Hagakure agreed. She pumped one arm in the air. "Even if it seems we're at a disadvantage, we have to try our best!"
Try our best.
They were really cool. She envied their confidence in their abilities.
Kazumi nodded and smiled back. "Okay."
With the remaining time to prepare, they decided that Hagakure would go out and search for the hero team since she was perfectly able to move incognito. Kazumi and Ojiro would guard the bomb, with the former waiting near the entrance in hopes that if Todoroki happened to come, she could manage to touch him before he could notice her.
As the timer started, the two guards moved to their positions while Hagakure quickly removed her shoes and gloves. She left soon after.
About a minute of waiting passed in silence when a sudden chill filled the room.
"Wha—?!" Ojiro didn't manage finish his sentence.
Kazumi yelped as the entire room—she suspected the entire building—suddenly became coated in thick layers of ice. She heard Hagakure's cry of alarm from her earpiece. Their feet had been frozen in place.
"Todoroki did all this?" the blond exclaimed.
Kazumi clapped her hands over her bare arms and shivered. "P-probably." It was so very cold.
Several more minutes passed. They couldn't do anything but wait due to the ice locked around their feet. Ojiro stared at the entrance in anticipation, regularly asking Hagakure if she was okay and if she could see either of the two on the opposite team. The poor girl was freezing since she didn't have any clothes to keep her warm. Kazumi worried that she would get sick if the match didn't end soon.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the nearest hallway to their room. Ojiro tensed and Kazumi held her breath. She slowly unclasped her hands from her arms, watching the doorway. There was an odd, heavy clunk with every other step. What was it?
"I've located the bomb," a quiet, stony voice muttered.
A figure stepped past the threshold of the door, revealing Todoroki with half of his body—the left side—encased in ice. Luckily, his right side was exposed to her.
Kazumi lunged forward as far as she could go, stretching her arm to touch him. The ice hurt her feet when she shifted too far, but her boots protected her skin. Todoroki reacted to her movement and moved away, but not quickly enough.
The girl's hand grazed against his cheek just before a wall of ice appeared between them. She cried out in triumph as fire sprouted from her right arm. With a sweeping motion, she melted the rest of the ice at her ankles and jumped around the wall. She sent a small burst of fire toward Todoroki, but he created another block of ice to shield himself.
"I knew you would try to use the counterpart to my power again, and yet I neglected to be cautious when entering the room," the two-tone haired boy said from behind the ice. "That was my mistake. I was overconfident."
"Chinen!" Ojiro called out.
She turned and ran as best as she could to him, nearly slipping a couple of times. She knelt down to melt the ice at his feet, but a rumble came from the doorway as Todoroki rose up on a column of ice and jumped toward them with his right hand aimed toward Kazumi. She rolled out of the way as a cold breeze brushed past her skin. The place where she used to be was covered in another layer of frozen water. It had also crawled up more of Ojiro's leg. The tailed boy stretched out an arm as if to shield her from their opponent.
"I wouldn't recommend moving too much," Todoroki warned him. His eyes were narrowed in an icy, determined glare. "Unless you want to tear the skin off of your frozen feet. Best just to stay still while I deal with Chinen."
Ojiro huffed in frustration.
Meanwhile, the girl had moved so she now stood between Todoroki and the bomb. As her opponent's scowl turned to her, she waved her left hand and a layer of ice encased the bomb. It was much thinner than Todoroki's, but she hoped it would at least protect the bomb for a little while longer.
She sensed another burst of ice headed her way before she formed a wall between Todoroki and herself. However, to her surprise, the boy immediately leapt over the barrier, having glided up with his ice instead of simply shooting it at her.
Kazumi cried out as he tackled her and pinned her to the ground. His left hand grabbed her right one, pushing it down toward the base of the bomb while his right hand rested lightly around her neck. A deep frigidness radiated out from his touch—a silent threat that was clear as day.
"I don't want to harm you, Chinen," he told her. "Just melt enough of the ice for me to retrieve the bomb."
Kazumi squirmed slightly, feeling the hard, jagged ice press against her back, but his right hand pressed down harder against her neck at the slight movement. Her brows furrowed as she looked up at him. This Todoroki was not the same one from yesterday. His expression was hard and the one, grey eye that she could see was dark. He was determined to win. She could understand that. However, the darkness in his eye terrified her, as did the chill of his hand around her neck.
Helpless. She was helpless again. If only she had managed to free Ojiro, then maybe they would have stood a chance against Todoroki. But alone? There was a clear difference in power between them. As she was right now, Todoroki would always win.
Kazumi's eyes squeezed shut. She let out a defeated breath and her right hand lit up in a small but strong flame to melt away a patch of the cocoon of ice.
Todoroki grunted in approval as he quickly rose and placed a hand against the exposed part of the bomb.
"The hero team wins!" All Might announced through the earpiece.
As Todoroki melted all of the ice that had formerly imprisoned the building, safely freeing both Ojiro and Hagakure, Kazumi stayed sprawled out on the floor with her eyes shut. She felt everything around her turn to water and then to vapor. A part of her wished she could disappear like that too—just vanish into the air.
"Chinen," Ojiro called in a soft voice.
She opened her eyes to see him standing over her with one hand out in a silent offer. She gave him a small smile and accepted his help, allowing him to pull her to her feet.
"Great job. I know we didn't win, but we gave it our all, and you certainly put up a fight!" he told her. "It was cool seeing you go up against Todoroki."
"Thanks," she murmured. "Sorry I couldn't free you fast enough."
One glance at the peppermint haired boy showed that he was already leaving the room. Not a single word was exchanged between them. Her hands clenched into fists.
The cold still lingered around her neck.
Mina greeted her back with a tight hug. "Kazuchi, are you all right? You and Todoroki looked so serious when you two were fighting."
"I'm fine," Kazumi reassured. "It wasn't as big as Midoriya and Bakugou's stunt, after all. By the way, is Midoriya back yet?"
"Pas encore (Not yet)," Aoyama answered with a flick of his hair. "It seems his quirk dealt quite a large amount of damage to his arm."
"Oh."
"Poor guy," Mina commented. She thoughtfully cupped her chin with one hand. "Those first two mock battles were quite a spectacle. I wonder if all the fights are meant to be that exciting. I hope I can do well during my round."
"You'll do fine!" Kazumi told her. "Your quirk is great, after all."
"Aw, thanks! I'm glad you think so. But honestly, you looked amazing when you were using Todoroki's counterpart! We all thought the battle was over when he froze the entire building, but then you surprised him and drew the round out longer. It was awesome!"
"C'est droit, mademoiselle (That's right, miss). You were a shining star for your team in that fight," Aoyama agreed, sweeping his arm into a dramatic pose.
Kazumi giggled at their exaggerations. "I can't wait to see how you two do during your matches."
"Yeah, well expect a show, because after how hard you, Midoriya, and Uraraka fought, there's no way we're going to slack off!" the pink haired girl exclaimed as she pumped one arm up into the air.
Just as Mina had said, everyone gave their all in the rest of the battles. Luckily, there weren't any other fights as crazy as the first two. Regardless, Kazumi was impressed by all of her classmates. They all knew how to use their quirks well and when best to use it for the sake of their goal.
After that exercise, everyone changed back into their school uniforms and continued with regular classes. Midoriya didn't show up for any of them, likely still recovering at the nurse's office.
At the end of the school day, Kazumi wanted to stay and help her classmates tidy the room and train, but she had to excuse herself. She had promised that she would be home early enough to take Hiroki out for an ice cream treat, and that took priority over socializing with her classmates.
By the time she had exited the building, she grew aware of a certain angry blond walking several paces behind her. Though he was silent the entire way out, his santering footsteps gave him away. It seemed that he wanted to leave school as soon as possible as well. Just as Kazumi had passed through the gate, she heard a voice.
"Kacchan, wait!"
Midoriya's voice.
She hurriedly stepped around the corner so that the wall of the gate hid her from view and peeked out from behind it. Surprisingly, Bakugou had stopped and waited for the green haired boy to catch up. He turned to face Midoriya with an annoyed scowl.
"What do you want, Deku?" he growled.
"There's one thing I feel like I have to tell you…." The quieter boy shuffled his feet and glanced apologetically at the blond. "My quirk is something I received from someone else."
"Huh?"
"I can't say who I got it from, though! I won't say… but it's like a story out of the comic books, except it's true."
Like from comic books? Kazumi leaned closer against the wall, turning the boy's words over in her head. The ones about All Might? Or maybe some of the American comics about Superman and Spider-Man?
"On top of that, I still can't control my quirk properly," Midoriya continued. "It's just a borrowed power that I haven't made my own yet. That's why… I tried to beat you without using it. But in the end, I couldn't win and I had to rely on it. I know I still have a long way to go, and that's why… that's why one day, I will make this quirk my own and beat you with my own power!"
A beat of silence passed.
Then Bakugou scoffed loudly. "What the h**l is that? 'Borrowed power?' What are you talking about? Are you trying to make me out to be more of a fool than you already have? Huh?! What are you trying to say?" His voice became shakier as it increased in volume. "Today I lost to you. That's all it was…. But as I watched the ice guy, I thought, 'I can't beat him!' He almost won the round without having to lift a finger against the others! He won by himself, d**n it! I also ended up agreeing with everything that ponytail girl said! D**n it! D**n it, d**n it!"
Kazumi's eyes widened as she heard Bakugou's voice break. Was he…? She didn't think vulnerability was a word that could apply to the blond, and yet he sounded as if he was on the verge of crying.
"Just you wait, Deku! I'm just getting started!" Bakugou declared. "You hear?! I will become number one!" He began to walk away as he rubbed at his eyes. "You won't beat me again, b*****d!"
Although Kazumi thought the conversation was over, a loud voice called out in the distance. "There he is! Young Bakugou!"
All Might's large figure suddenly appeared behind the aforementioned boy along with a gust of wind. He clapped his hands on the boy's shoulders, flashing his signature smile.
"Just so you know, pride is important," the tall man said. "You definitely have the abilities needed to become a pro. However, you also still have a lot of—"
"Let go of me, All Might. I can't walk," Bakugou interrupted. Then, he turned to glare at the teacher, his ruby eyes glowing with tired annoyance. "I'll become a hero that surpasses even you without you telling me!"
"Huh?" The man hesitantly released his grip and stepped back. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "Uh, right."
Bakugou scoffed and continued walking away without another word.
Kazumi was so caught up in her thoughts about the interaction she just had witnessed that she forgot to move away. Thus, she was caught off guard when the sauntering boy turned the corner… right to where she was hiding. A nervous smile stretched upon her lips as the boy stopped in front of her with a heated glower.
"H-hi?"
"It's rude to eavesdrop," he said in a low, disgusted tone.
"I'm sorry. I promise I won't tell anyone about what I heard… or that you were about to cry."
"I wasn't about to cry, idiot!"
She quickly nodded, holding her hands up placatingly. "R-right! No crying!"
"Tch. Say anything 'bout what you saw and I'll kill you, d**n extra."
Kazumi nodded again, but Bakugou didn't bother acknowledging it. He shoved past her the same way he did when she encountered him at the entrance exam: one hand grabbing her shoulder and pushing her to the side. A hiss of fire accompanied his touch—a silent threat. The second she had gotten that day.
The girl watched in silence as Bakugou disappeared into the distance. She exhaled a shaky breath. At least… at least he hadn't tried to beat up Midoriya this time. For that, she was thankful. With nothing else to wait for, she quickly made her way home.