That Which Was Lost (1)
Katsuki Bakugo was glaring holes into his food. He stabbed his spoon into the rice and stirred it roughly. He pulled it up and shoved whatever came up with the utensil into his mouth.
He chewed vigorously before attempting to swallow, but there was a lump in his throat that made the task ten times more difficult.
He risked a glance to the front. A girl stared back at him as she slowly chewed her own food. Kurumi Aizawa's black iris glistened with an intent Bakugo could not surmise as the girl continued to stare at him. Her small mouth continued to chew whatever food she rhetorically pushed into those thin lips. The cafeteria was loud and crowded, but the silence between them had Bakugo completely stumped.
"What do you want?" Bakugo finally had to ask.
Kurumi crossed her legs as she leaned forward, pointing at him with her fork.
"You're pretty handsome when I look at you closely."
There she went with her random comments again. Bakugo scrunched his face, fighting back the flush that otherwise would have made it apparent on his cheek.
"I thought you weren't going to talk to me ever again?"
"You and I both know that's not going to happen," Kurumi pouted, "I'm here to apologize, I guess. I don't want any crumbs, so I wanted that off my chest."
Bakugo clicked his tongue before he shovelled more food down his throat. He needed something to concentrate on or else, his eyes would end up meeting hers.
"Look. I'm sorry for saying all those things back then. And I was thinking, you probably feel the same way, don't you? You'd prefer not to have any loose ends." Kurumi pushed on, leaning further toward him.
"So I was thinking, you should apologize to Deku too."
"No." The answer came out even before he had made up his mind. It was an automatic mechanism as if his very being rejected the thought.
"Bakugo, it's about time you two reconciled and became friends again!"
Bakugo growled.
Kurumi persisted, "Remember before? How it was always the three of us? We can hang out again just like the old days."
Bakugo furrowed his brows at the memory. How he viewed their childhood differed greatly from Kurumi Aizawa version. It had never been the three of them. It had always been the two of them, Kurumi and himself while Izuku Midoriya had been like a moth to a flame, following after them and continuously bothering them. Izuku had always been the wedge that drove Kurumi away from him. It had never been the three of them and Bakugo refuted that on a fundamental level.
"That's not going to happen, Eyepatch."
Ignoring the frustrated look on Kurumi's face, Bakugo pointed his spoon at her face.
"So why are you still wearing that eyepatch? You took it off during the fight yesterday." Bakugo attempted to change the subject.
A coal eye narrowed before she sighed, deciding to take the bait. She rubbed her eyepatch, letting the matter with Izuku drop for now. They'd have plenty of time to fix this damaged relationship.
After all, they were in the same class.
"Well, it feels more comfortable this way." Kurumi muttered.
"Comfortable…" Bakugo chewed over his words as much as the rice in his mouth. "Does it suppress your quirk or something?" He had always been curious of Kurumi's quirk, but she had never actually told him anything even remotely related to it. He knew of her father's quirk. But that was just about everything he knew.
Bakugo tested the waters. It had always felt as if Kurumi had an aversion to discussions about her quirk, but the way the fight yesterday had drawn to a conclusion was as bizarre as it was anti-climatic. He couldn't help it.
Kurumi blinked, but Bakugo could find no trace of displeasure or discomfort in her expression at having mentioned about her quirk, "Yes. I mean it's more mentally rather than-"
"You can see the future, can't you?" Bakugo talked over her. He couldn't help it. His patience had been a thin layer of ice this whole time. He'd seen how she'd fought yesterday. And he remembered years back. Before Kurumi had disappeared from his life. Before that incident at the park.
He remembered the woman that had been Kurumi Aizawa's mother. He'd seen her eyes glow. He'd seen her make strange predictions of things that hadn't yet happened.
He'd asked the woman once about her quirk. She had ruffled his spiky hair and had merely smiled in return. But Bakugo had an inkling.
Quirks were very often passed down from parent to child.
All of it could be Bakugo's wild guess. It could be his imagination, but it had been solidifying to certainty ever since he saw Kurumi fight yesterday and Bakugo spat it out of his mouth before it could turn into anything more.
Something flickered In Kurumi's black iris. It was something akin to uncertainty, but it was snuffed out as quickly as it had come. Kurumi shrugged her shoulders playfully and smiled.
It was the same smile her mother had worn when he'd asked her all those years before.
But if that was true, if her quirk allowed her to see something beyond… there was something Bakugo had to ask. In order to tame the fear that had suddenly shot a chill through his veins. This strange feeling of something so weak and wicked that Bakugo himself couldn't quite put a finger on, but it was something he always tasted on the tip of his tongue everytime he saw Deku following him around…
"That night. The night you and Deku had a fight. You told me that Deku was going to become the greatest hero. And I always wondered why you were so sure of yourself… where did that confidence come from I wonder…?" Bakugo gripped his spoon and red eyes burned alight with flames that beat defiantly back at the trepidation that bubbled beneath his skin.
The rain had been unforgiving. The cold biting incessantly at his heels. And that glow from her amber eye that floated from between the curtains of darkness. Bakugo still remembered it as clearly as if it were yesterday.
"Was that something you saw in the future as well?"
His every cell was hanging onto her every movement. His heart was beating erratically. His mind was screaming for her denial and yet, why was it that Kurumi Aizawa seemed so hesitant to answer?
"What the fuck, Aizawa?" Bakugo muttered, "That's not true, right? Just say it! It's not true!"
"You're mistaken about something, Bakugo." Kurumi frowned.
"What?"
"It's about my quirk. It isn't-"
"Yo!"
Bakugo blinked before he turned around to glare at the boy, who had dared interrupt their conversation.
"Fuck off before I burn you, half-wit."
"Always a ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Denki Kaminari grimaced before he set his food tray and sat next to Kurumi. Bakugo nearly rocketed off his seat, but he was halted by the glare Kurumi threw him.
"Hello, Kaminari." Kurumi smiled.
"A pleasure, m'lady." Kaminari bowed in mock gesture.
Bakugo felt goosebumps travel up his arms. What the fuck was this loser?
The chair next to him scraped across the floor and his red eyes flickered irritably to the person, who dared to occupy the seat next to him. A small boy smiled up at him with a meek thumbs up. He had purple balls sprouting from his scalp.
"Do you want to die?" Bakugo growled threateningly.
Feeling a sense of satisfaction well up from within him as the small boy's eyes began to water, Bakugo raised his hackles against the two intruders. His hostile behavior was, however, immediately stomped out as Kurumi stepped on Bakugo's toes with force.
Denki Kaminari chortled as Bakugo shut his mouth with a flinch.
"Right," Kurumi sighed, "So what's up Kaminari?"
"Ah, well.." Kaminari flicked up his bangs and electricity cackled along the loose strands, "I thought we could hang out after school…or something?"
Kaminari's confidence seemed to wane with every word spoken as he ended his sentence with uncertainty. But Kurumi nodded with a smile, immediately flipping that uncertainty to confidence yet again.
"Sure. Why not? I owe you one for yesterday anyways."
"HAAAAH?!"
That was Bakugo as he slammed his hands onto the table. Smoke erupted in plumes from between his fingers, only barely managing to keep tact enough not to blow the table up in smithereens.
Bu the vein throbbing in his forehead showed dwindling patience, and Kurumi crossed her legs as she looked pointedly away.
"It has nothing to do with you, Bakugo."
"Hey, Biribiri." Bakugo changed his strategy this time. If there was one thing he'd learned, it was that Kurumi Aizawa heeded his words very little. It was almost as if she was allergic to them.
"Biribiri? You talking about me, bro? I told you, my name is Kaminari." Kaminari scratched the back of his head as he began to dig into his lunch.
"Like I give a fuck about that." Bakugo grinned savagely, and he reached out to grab the blonde's collar.
"Geez." Kaminari chuckled.
Their foreheads met as electric yellow met fiery irises in a silent staring contest. Neither backed down and as the seconds ticked by, the vein in Bakugo's forehead throbbed and the savage grin on his face grew more forced.
"Biribiri, last warning. Fuck off."
"You act as if you're her boyfriend or something." Kaminari pointed out, "Wait, are you?"
"Hah? Of course not," Kurumi answered that question for Bakugo as she stabbed a tomato irritably with her fork.
The moment her fork penetrated the tomato, was the moment an image of Bakugo's lips hovering inches from her own struck her brain like lightning. Suddenly, Kurumi felt very annoyed. Bakugo hadn't mentioned anything about that at all. Almost a week had gone by since then and it was as if that day had never happened.
"Bakugo hates my guts." Kurumi said spitefully.
"Huhhhh?! When did I ever say that?!" Bakugo demanded.
"And I hate your guts too," Kurumi snapped, "Baka. Bakago."
Shoving the tomato into her mouth, she pushed out of her seat and promptly left the scene with her tray.
How does it end up that way, Bakugo found himself floored at how easily her mood had turned tables.
"Well, ouch…" Kaminari muttered.
"I am…. COMING IN THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" All Might's voice boomed in the classroom. There was surety, there was strength in his voice that reverberated the very marrow of their bones and made them tremble in their seats.
Such was the presence that filled the entire class of 1-A as the number one hero stepped into the scene.
But there was one student in this classroom who didn't share the sentiment with the rest. Kurumi Aizawa tucked a hand under her chin as she looked the other way.
"Hey, hey! It's All Might~ !" Mina Ashido squealed in her seat, bubbling in her fangirlism. She shook Kurumi's shoulder back and forth, but the black haired girl didn't reciprocate her excitement.
"What's wrong, Rumi?" Mina asked curiously.
The pink-skinned girl had skipped surname basis, ignored first name terms and gone straight to nicknames. Her power to socialize with people and establishing relationships quickly were seriously off the cchars. Kurumi, having mostly hung out with Izuku and Bakugo in her childhood, had trouble handling a female friend with such a bubbly attitude. She'd been swept up in Mina's pace and had failed to put up any form of resistance as Mina warmed her way in.
"N-nothing… Mi." The nickname was like sand, course and awkward against her tongue, but her bubbly friend had insisted she call her that and wouldn't have it any other way.
But when all was said and done, Kurumi couldn't lie to herself. She was excited to have a girl her age as her friend, and that excitement had kept her awake in bed last night. Though it was a secret she would be carrying to her grave.
"Why don't you look excited?" Mina demanded, "I mean, it's All Might!"
"Not a big fan of him," Kurumi shrugged.
Mina blinked before she looked at Kurumi as if she were an alien life form, "I never knew someone could not like All Might aside from the villains."
Black sclera glistened in thought before Mina leaned further into her. "Are you a villain?"
"Of course not," Kurumi rolled her eye.
"Then how come?"
Well, that wasn't something so simple to talk about, was it? Kurumi chuckled deprecatingly to herself.
"Well, let's go." Kurumi decided to ignore the question. Their fellow classmates were getting out of their seats and approaching the cubbyholes containing their hero costumes. All Might had already finished his little speech and Mina blinked in confusion, having drowned out his booming voice in favor of her conversation with Kurumi.
"Huh? I didn't pay attention," Mina said dumbstruck, "What did All Might say?"
"Your number is…26. There it is." Kurumi grabbed the clothes in the cabinet and tossed what was presumably Mina's hero costume over.
Grabbing her own costume, Kurumi extended her hand. "Come on. We'll go to the changing room. We're putting on our hero attire. And then, we meet at Ground Beta."
Mina blinked, before a bright smile blossomed across her face, "Aye. Aye. Captain!"
Mina grabbed her hand.
"Deku… You look like a rabbit."
That was the first thing Kurumi said to Izuku as they met amidst the gathered crowd of class 1-A in the field of Ground Beta. She circled around the green haired boy, inspecting every inch of him as she rubbed her chin.
"Rabbit Deku. How cute." Kurumi nodded in approval.
"Ahaha, it's not a rabbit though." Izuku said, adjusting the mask over his face.
"I actually designed it with All Might in mind," Izuku explained, "See the similarities? The mouth here looks a lot like All Might's smile right? And these ears are like All Might's hair!"
"Uuuhhh.." Kurumi cocked her head, "Sure. Why not? Okay."
Unsatisfied with Kurumi's answer, Izuku spent the next five minutes trying to make her see the image he had in mind when he designed the costume. Kurumi nodded her head, but the green haired boy had an inkling that she'd still not see his costume in the way he wanted it to be viewed as.
"How cute." Kurumi ruffled his head.
It wasn't supposed to be cute! That just about confirmed his suspicions. Izuku wondered if he should design his costume again from a scratch before he pushed that thought to the corner of his mind.
"Your costume looks pretty cool too, Kurumi!" Izuku coughed, as he tried to shy away from Kurumi's hands. But she was relentless and persistent as she continued to stroke Izuku's long ears.
"What? I just copied my dad's costume and added a skirt to it. Nothing special." Kurumi said as her hand continued to roam his head.
Now that she put it that way, that really was just about it.
"It's still cool though…" Izuku decided to stand steadfast by his opinion, "Your dad's a cool hero. And you look like him."
It wasn't an exaggeration to say the least. Nobody would doubt that they were related in one way or another.
Her coal black eye glistened with warmth before she retreated a few steps back, shyly twiddling with her scarf. "That's the greatest compliment you can give me, Deku."
"R-really?" Izuku squeaked. She was taking that to heart more than he thought she would.
Her pale skin accentuated the light blush that blossomed on her cheeks even further. Izuku was thankful that he had his mask on or she would have seen how his own cheeks had turned an even darker shade than hers.
"Yeah. My dad's my favorite hero. Just like All Might is to you," Kurumi pivoted on one foot, and turned around a full circle, showing off her costume.
"But you look too much like him," Izuku offered, "I mean, shouldn't you have characteristics that make you stand out from him?"
If there was a problem, it was that she resembled Mr. Aizawa a little too much. The only difference between them was that they were male and female and while Mr. Aizawa sported a haggard look on a normal basis, Kurumi had a sharper look to her features like a cat.
"It's fine~" However, Kurumi shot Izuku's concerns down, "He isn't exactly media-friendly. Nobody knows."
Something about the way she said that seemed sad. Izuku couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he felt the smile behind his mask slide off.
"…Nobody knows who the Eraser Head is."
A breeze blew between them. Kurumi's hair fluttered in the wind and her scarf curled tighter around her neck like a snake upon its prey.
"I do."
The moment passed and the faint tinge of sadness was gone. Kurumi broke into a chuckle at Izuku's answer and the scarf loosened, nestling comfortably onto her shoulders once more.
"Only cuz you're a hero-maniac, silly Deku."
"Not really…" Izuku tried to deny. "A lot of people know him…"
"Thanks, Deku." Kurumi poked him with her elbow, "But seriously. If my dad had made a proper debut as a pro hero, he would have definitely been in the top ten hero rankings."
"No. No. I'm serious about this." Kurumi said seriously when Izuku didn't answer. "For one thing, he'd definitely beat Endeavor."
"Well," Izuku mulled over his words, "The hero rankings aren't exactly based on combat abilities."
"You're right," Kurumi dropped her shoulders, "But that doesn't change anything. He definitely did a lot of hero-work behind the shadows. Bet you he's got more cases solved under his belt than that old douche Endeavor."
"Douche?" Izuku repeated, "You don't like Endeavor?"
"Who would?" Kurumi snapped, "He's an arrogant asshole."
The steel in her voice was sharper than Izuku had expected. It felt more personal, the hatred more specific than that of someone who had simply seen Endeavor through a screen.
"Well, Endeavor does have a fair amount of haters…" Izuku scratched his cheek.
"Why is a guy like that number two?" Kurumi complained, kicking at a pebble by her foot.
"Well, you can't deny all the crimes he's stopped, the achievements he made…"
Izuku was about to drown in his hero fanboyism once more. It was a familiar repertoire, and Kurumi stopped him before he could go on any further.
"Well. Whatever. Still hate him though." Kurumi yawned.
Izuku chuckled, "Well, you sound as if you met him personally."
"Oh I did." Kurumi said lightly.
"Really?" Izuku blinked, "When?"
"A long time ago." Kurumi rubbed her eyepatch agitatedly.
"I hate him."
Her brows furrowed. Her lips thinned. A whirl of emotions rolled like a cesspool in her black iris. There was something crazed about the glint that appeared in her eye and she seemed to be lost in thought, reminiscing of her past or something else, Izuku dared not surmise. Hesitantly, tentatively, Izuku reached for her small shoulder.
His fingers grazed empty air.
Kurumi had sharply moved out of his arm's reach. She seemed more surprised and shocked than Izuku was, that she'd backed away from him. The two of them stared at Izuku's gloved hand, hanging in the air without a place to go.
Izuku retrieved his hand with an awkward cough. "Well, I think your costume looks cool."
He was pretty sure he'd said that line, but he repeated it anyways. He wasn't delighted about this sudden awkwardness.
"And your costume is very cute too, Deku." Kurumi returned quietly.
His abrupt change in topic wasn't unwelcome to Kurumi either.
"You could at least say it looks like All Might…" Izuku chuckled lightly. He was thankful for the mask over his face. Izuku had no idea what sort of expression he should be making right now. But even so…
"If anything, you look more like Asui…"
Even so, Izuku decided then and there. He was definitely going to get rid of this mask.
From now on, I think I'm going to write shorter chapters with quicker updates. I'm literally incapable of writing long chapters because I get tired quickly and the story gets incosistent. I've been struggling with that issue for the past few chapters, so I think this arrangement will be much better in the long run.
Thank you for everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed!
Much love and thanks for your patience! As a beginner in writing, I have so much room for improvement! And it feels like I'm not alone every step of the way.