Kuri woke up the next day excited for her first real day of class. She had technically done work yesterday too, but there hadn't been any homework assigned, since it was her first day. She couldn't think of what Mr. Aizawa would assign her to make up for it, but she certainly hadn't expected a 100-page packet with material on five different subjects.
"Ex- excuse me?" Kuri asked frantically, hoping that it was just some sort of sick joke.
"I realize that you did have to pass an entrance exam to get in here, but you probably need more coverage than that. So here's a packet. It's due tomorrow. You're welcome," Mr. Aizawa said with a malicious grin. Why are these heroes so evil? First, Bakugo, and now my teacher? What is up with Japan…
The class began to riot, saying how it was unfair for her to be assigned so much work and be expected to do it in a day. Maybe my classmates will save me from this terrible fate?
"Do any of you want that assignment too?" Mr. Aizawa asked, his red gaze glowing as his hair and scarf began to float up. The room fell silent. Aw, damn it. "Didn't think so."
He turned back to Kuri. "Nakano, I believe that you're capable enough to finish this assignment in time. If you can't," he pushed his hair back and glared down at her. "Then consider yourself expelled."
Her jaw dropped. What… is even happening. She looked down at the large stack of paper, which couldn't even be stapled together as a whole, and was just a stack of loose paper. He could've at least stapled the different subjects together… Why does my teacher hate me? What did I do to deserve this?
She heard snickering, and once again it was Bakugo. Seriously, did other people's struggles entertain him? She had tried to be nice yesterday, but of course, he didn't care. What an asshole.
"Oh, and Bakugo," Mr. Aizawa said. He looked up. "You have to help her." Yeah, good riddance, haha. Wait… Oh no. Bakugo's face lost all expression, then quickly took on a look of disbelief and anger.
"What, why should I do that?!" he yelled. Is this what my life has become? Torture? I think it's time to pass away.
"Because I'm telling you to. Plus, I heard that you two had a bit of an… altercation, for lack of better words, so you two need to make up," Mr. Aizawa said. Bakugo opened his mouth to say more, but Mr. Aizawa cut him off. "I'm not negotiating on this." He then walked back to the front to continue speaking about other class things. Kuri needed to do something to ensure that she wouldn't have to suffer through working with Bakugo.
"It's alright, Mr. Aizawa, I don't think I'll need his help; I'm pretty sure I could do the work on my own," Kuri said. Bakugo looked over to her with an almost grateful look, but the vibes she got from him said that he didn't like that she'd said she could do it without his help.
"Well, you're getting his help whether you like it or not," Mr. Aizawa said. "And if he refuses to help you, tell me and I'll deal with him." Deal with him… how? Whatever. Guess I can't get out of this now. I think I'll be okay. I do work fast, after all. I could probably get this all done in a couple of hours. I wonder how much of a help Bakugo will end up being. She shot him a furtive glance, and he was scowling. Well, he wasn't the only one who was unhappy.
That evening, Kuri finally got around to starting her work on the packet. Between bathing, eating, goofing off, and too much self-confidence, she had not allowed herself to get an early start on her work.
It was a bit past nine o'clock by the time Kuri got upstairs to her room to do her work. Bakugo hadn't spoken to her at all about doing her work, and she doubted that he was going to help her. I hope he doesn't mind facing Mr. Aizawa's wrath.
She entered her room and looked at the daunting stack of papers, which were sitting on her desk, waiting for her. Instead of going straight to it, she decided to change into pajamas first.
She put on a large sweater over her t-shirt and changed from her pants into short-shorts. She looked in the mirror, finding it funny that it looked like she wasn't wearing any pants. She grabbed her favorite hair clip (the one with a little white bunny on it) from the table and clipped up her bangs, then took out her contacts and put on her glasses. She looked confidently at her reflection. Time to finally do my work!
She sat down at her desk and flipped through the pages. It looked like the five subjects it was on were the same things the entrance exam was on: math, social studies, science, Japanese, and English. She assumed it'd be relatively easy to complete the work. After all, she had had to do extensive studying just to pass that entrance exam, since she had been learning different things at school in America.
Social studies had been especially hard, since she'd grown up learning American history, among other things, and didn't know much about Japanese history at all.
As she flipped through the sheets of paper, looking at what she had to do, she wondered why Mr. Aizawa had bothered to include the English work. After all, she was fluent. She decided to do that work first since it'd be easiest.
When it was complete, she then moved on to math, her best subject, and was halfway through her Japanese work when she heard a knock on the door.
She wondered who would bother to visit her room when they knew she had work to do. Maybe it's Bakugo? She got up to answer the door, and the person knocked again louder this time.
"I'm coming," she said. Jeez, impatient much? She opened the door and the light of the hallway flooded into her dimly lit room, and the brightness made her squint.
As her eyes adjusted, she realized it actually was Bakugo who was at her door. She saw his eyes dart from her glasses to her hair clip to her bare legs then back up to her eyes. She leaned against the doorway.
"Are you checking me out?" she asked with a smirk. Oh gosh, why'd I say that? That's so embarrassing. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, but Kuri saw his ears turn a bit pink.
She decided that it couldn't hurt to check him out too, just to be fair, but then realized that he was just wearing a plain black t-shirt and dark gray sweatpants. Not much to be excited over. Unless you were a horny teenage girl. Which Kuri, definitely was not. Oh, who was she kidding of course she was. Nonetheless, she looked back up to him.
"Let me in already, loser. It's time to do your work," he said. She frowned.
"Don't call me a loser. And I've finished half of it already, so I bet I'll be done in about thirty minutes." He glanced over her head into her room.
"If your clock is right, then you'll be able to tell that it's been three hours since you came in here to do your work, so I'm sure it's gonna take you a little more than half an hour to finish the rest, dumbass," he said. Three hours?! She whipped her head around and spotted her alarm clock which was sitting on her nightstand, indicating that it was 12:27 am.
"Shit, you're right!" Kuri exclaimed. She probably shouldn't have been using her phone while she worked… She turned back around to Bakugo, who had a smug look on his face. "Oh, pardon my language."
"I don't care if you swear in front of me, Bunny. I'm coming inside now." He pushed past her into her room and sat down at her table on the floor. Wow, he's just making himself right at home. Wait, did he just call me Bunny? As in, my hero name? You know what, I'm not going to ask why. He's probably just trying to mock me.
She walked over to her desk to bring her work to the little table too and noticed him looking at her stuffed animal collection.
"What is it?" she asked. Did he want one or something? He looked back at her and smirked.
"Nothing. You're just more of a kid than I thought you'd be," he said. She frowned.
"I like my stuffed animals though…" Kuri said. In her opinion, it wasn't that weird to have plush toys at her age. Who wouldn't want a soft thing to hug while they slept?
As she organized her work supplies onto the table, she saw Bakugo's gaze drift up to her photos on the wall. Oh great, is he going to make snide comments about those too?
"You sure have a lot of pictures of that one guy," he mused. She already knew what he was talking about.
"That's my little brother," she said. At this point she just wanted Bakugo to shut up so she could do her work in peace. Why was he even here? He said he came here to help her do her work, but so far all he'd done was be rude.
"You must really like him," Bakugo said. Kuri just nodded in response. "You got a little brother complex or something?" he asked mockingly. She looked up at him and glared. He glared back. Then, she went back to work.
"Hey, Bunny," he said. She didn't look up. Didn't even acknowledge that he'd spoken. If he was going to come to her room in the middle of the night just to annoy her when she had important work to do, then she would not cater to his whimsies. She would remain calm. He would not get a rise out of her.
"Hey, don't ignore me," he said. Once again, she didn't respond, and he leaned over to her side of the table and grabbed her pencil out of her hand. "Stop ignoring me." She still didn't look at him. Instead, she turned to her pencil case and pulled out another pencil, and continued her work. Bakugo growled.
"Fine," he said gruffly. Out of the corner of her eye, Kuri saw Bakugo pull out his phone and begin doing his own thing. So much for him helping me. Well, it's not like I really needed him anyway. This is just a waste of time for him now.
As time passed by, Kuri finished her Japanese work and her science work and was currently on her social studies work. During all of this, she watched Bakugo gradually shift his body position further down, until his head was resting on the table, and he was looking at his phone sideways. He must be pretty bored. Why did he even stick around this long?
Bakugo yawned loudly, which caused Kuri to yawn as well. She looked down at her work. Oh no, I don't know what the answer is. I guess Bakugo will finally be put to use.
As she looked over to him to ask for help, she noticed that his eyes had closed.
"Psst, Bakugo," she whispered. No response. "Are you still awake?" she whispered again. Still no response. "You're not dead are you?" Kuri asked jokingly. What if he actually is? That thought made Kuri feel the need to check, just to be sure.
She scooted to the other side of the table, where Bakugo was, and to her relief found that he was still breathing. She slid his phone out of his limp hand, and set it down by his head. He must have been so bored that he fell asleep. That's funny. And maybe kind of cute. She clawed her hands at the air in the hopes to bat the thought away. No! I am not going to fall for him. That would be catastrophic on so many levels.
Bakugo shivered. It was kind of cold in the dorm, although Kuri didn't mind, so maybe he needed a blanket. She dug into her closet for her nice, fuzzy blanket and draped it over him. That's better. She yawned. I better get back to work now.
Since she didn't feel like waking up Bakugo at this point, she decided to just look up the answers to the questions on her phone.
After she'd gotten through a little more than half of the work, she remembered that she hadn't talked to her parents yet. She went to her last messages with them, which had been sent the day before.
"I just got to the school." Kuri had written. "I'm nervous."
Her dad, as supportive as ever had responded with: "Don't be nervous. Everyone will love you!"
And her mom had been… almost apathetic when she said: "Even if they don't, there are no take-backs now. Have fun on your first day."
She loved her parents, but sometimes she felt like they weren't good at saying the things that Kuri needed to hear. Especially her mom.
Nevertheless, she decided to video call them. She checked the time in California. It's 3:34 am here, so it's 11:34 am there. Now should be a good time to call, then.
As her phone dialed them up, she slightly began to regret her decision but put on a smile when the image of her parents showed up. Since it was a normal workday for them, they were both sitting together in their co-owned hero agency. Her dad had on a big smile, and her mom was sipping from a cup of coffee as usual.
"Hello, sweetie!" her dad said.
"Hi, Dada. Hi, Mama," Kuri said. Her mother nodded in acknowledgment of the greeting.
"Why are you up so late? Shouldn't you be in bed? Why are you calling us?" her dad asked. I don't think I should tell them about the assignment. Or even worse: Bakugo.
"Um, I just thought it'd be more convenient for you if I called you at a time like this," Kuri said.
"Well, you should have picked a better time for yourself, honey," her mom said, scolding her as usual. "You really shouldn't be up so late, even to talk to us."
"So how's school going? Did you make any friends yet?" her dad asked.
"Well, there's this girl I sit next to in class named Mina, and I think we're friends," Kuri said. Should I also mention that there's also a guy who tried to fight me on my first day here? "I've also got to talk to the other girls in class. They're all very nice."
"Well, don't forget to focus on your studies and keep working out. Just because we're not there to bug you about it doesn't mean you get to slack off," her mom said, taking another sip of her drink.
"And make sure that you continue to keep being your sweet self, Kuri," her dad said.
"Call back again next week, but please do it at a better time," her mother said.
"Okay, Mama. B-" Her words were cut off as the call ended. She sighed. What a pain… I still need to finish my work too.
She looked over to Bakugo, who had surprisingly not woken up from her talking. She hoped that meant that she hadn't woken up Mina either, who was sleeping soundly in her room next door.
His face was peaceful, and it was a stark contrast from the expressions he usually made when he was awake. His hair still stood all spiked up, and Kuri wondered if it would hurt to touch it.
Her hand reached out towards his hair tentatively, with her inhibitions dwindling due to her fatigue. As she pressed her palm onto his head, she was pleasantly surprised at the softness. It felt as soft as her own hair. Does he use conditioner or something?
"How is your hair so soft?" Kuri whispered to Bakugo, though she knew that he was asleep, and wouldn't answer. She rubbed her hands back and forth through his hair. "Wow, your hair feels so nice! You'd never let me do this if you were awake. Maybe I should stop before I wake you u-"
Kuri froze and looked down at her arm. Bakugo's hand was tightly gripping the wrist of the hand that was touching his head. Well, fuck. He let go of her arm and she quickly pulled away. He slowly lifted his head, his piercing glare enough to make Kuri burst into a frantic apology.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, I'll never do that again, I'm so sorry, please don't kill me, I'm so sorry, please forgive me!" Kuri exclaimed. She had backed up to the window and was still kneeling. Bakugo's face had turned as red as a tomato. Kuri wasn't sure if it was out of anger, embarrassment, or both. Probably both.
"Shut up!" he yelled. He threw the blanket off of him and grabbed his phone. "I shouldn't have come here. What a waste of my time." He started for the door. Kuri got up and stumbled after him.
"Wait, but I still need he-" Her words were cut off as he slammed the door in her face. Kuri sighed deeply and rested her forehead against the cool material.
Bakugo's face burned as he stormed out of Nakano's room, and back down the hall to his dorm. What the fuck was that? What the hell was she doing, touching my hair like that?
He threw open his door and slammed it shut, causing the walls to tremble. His hands crackled with glowing orange sparks, providing the only light in his otherwise pitch-black room. He stood there, his hand ready to explode something, as he gradually calmed his bloodlust. He leaned his back against the doorway.
"She didn't even need me anyway, that show-off," he said to himself. Does she think I'm not smart enough to answer her questions? I stuck around so long that I even fell asleep, and she returns my favor with harassment?
"I bet she kept me around so she could sabotage me when I was vulnerable." He played back the night in his head, from when he first made up his mind to go there.
He had been laying in his bed, wondering if Nakano was ever gonna come up to ask him to help her. She had been on the first floor when he had come upstairs, and the only people he'd heard come to their floor were Kirishima and Shoji. Around nine, he'd heard the elevator arrive on their floor, and the sound of Nakano and Ashido's voices crept into his room from the hallway.
Finally, she's come to get my help. Bakugo climbed out of bed and waited for the sound of her footsteps. He only heard silence. Did she go to her dorm to get her stuff or something? Does she think I would let her work in my room? Like hell I would. But I should probably put my manga away just in case...
He waited for five minutes before the thought occurred to him that she wasn't coming to ask for help. He decided that it wasn't worth it to wait any longer, and went back to bed.
Three hours later, he sat up with a start, realizing that Mr. Aizawa would totally beat his ass if he found out that he hadn't helped Nakano out. He groaned and got up. I hate this stupid shit.
He walked over to her room and knocked on the door. When she answered, he'd been surprised to see that she wore glasses. Not only that but when it was combined with her bangs being clipped up with that little bunny clip and that she was wearing very short shorts, she looked almost… cute. Bakugo wanted to delete his brain as soon as he had that thought.
Why had he suddenly started thinking she was even good enough for him to like? There was no way that anyone would ever be worthy of someone as great as him, so he didn't get why he was being like this. He assumed that he must be catching a cold. Or that he'd been hit by some sort of mind-altering quirk. And it hadn't helped that she'd made a joke about him checking her out. He swore that he would fight her when she wasn't considered "new" anymore, so he wouldn't get publicly shamed for beating her ass.
Her room was surprisingly boring. And when he commented on the only two highlights of it, she ended up ignoring him. What a bitch.
And then when he was forced to just sit there on his phone… he'd fallen asleep. And she'd taken advantage of him. Rubbing his head like he was some kind of pet. He wasn't a dog, dammit! But, it had been a bit nice. No, wait, what am I thinking? I'm going insane. I think the lack of sleep is getting to me.
Back in the elevator yesterday she'd said that she "wasn't his competition". Like hell that was true. He guessed it'd been some sort of trick to get him to relax so that she could pull ahead of him once he'd gotten soft.
"And she seriously made me start to believe that maybe she was okay," he whispered. He had some respect for her, considering that she'd claimed to have been top of her class. And Bakugo had to admit that he'd liked her talk of people who would support him in his journey to claiming the number one spot, instead of trying to tear him down. But Bakugo knew that it wasn't true. Even that stupid Deku, who'd been his so-called childhood fri- frien-, um, even he had eventually turned his back on me. And with All Might's quirk too. He better be more grateful.
Bakugo had been a fool to be charmed by the words that he so wanted to hear, spoken from a person with a smile so genuine, it was almost enough to make him believe her. So as he climbed into bed, he made a promise to himself: There is no way that I will ever fall for any of that girl's tricks. And there is definitely no way that I am going to fall for her.
