Kuri woke up coughing. She guessed that her little sickness really had become a cold. It wasn't like it could stop her from going to school though, right?
Well, it turned out she was wrong. And that'd she'd passed her cold to two people: Mina and Bakugo.
She understood how Mina had gotten her cold since they'd been hanging out a lot. But with Bakugo, it wasn't like they'd been hanging out that much… Okay they actually had been. She'd spent hours with him while she'd done that packet, and then more time when they ran together, and even more time when they'd fallen asleep next to each other the night before. How did they keep managing to do this? She didn't get it at all.
When her classmates had found out that she was sick, they told her to stay home for the day. Mina and Bakugo both had more "severe" cases so they "obviously" had to stay home. Kuri didn't get it. It was just a cold. She went to school sick all the time. That was how she kept her record of zero absences since kindergarten. And now that streak was broken. She thought she was healthy enough to go to school, but she didn't actually know how Mina and Bakugo were doing.
While they were all eating breakfast (minus Mina and Bakugo), Mr. Aizawa had come in to see if he should let them be absent or not, and somehow all three of them had to stay home for the day. He had said that they could stay in their dorms for today only and that he'd be giving them make-up work for missing class. Kuri hoped that it wouldn't be another one of those packets.
Kuri went back to her dorm, thinking of ways to spend her day, now that she didn't have to go to school. She could spend time on social media, or binge some anime, or read, or draw, or write, or study (bleh). What time was it back home? She did the math in her head. It was around 5 pm there, so she could call her parents… but they'd probably ask why she wasn't in class. She didn't feel like explaining.
She ended up watching some shows until lunchtime rolled around. Then, she headed downstairs to go eat, and Mina was there, sitting alone, with her food half-finished. She looked up at Kuri.
"Oh, hey! Are you feeling okay?" Mina asked. "My cold isn't as bad as Mr. Aizawa says. I've just got some sniffles and coughing. What about you?" Kuri got some food for herself and sat down across from Mina.
"Eh, I'm fine. I don't see why we had to stay home," she replied. They ate and chatted for a while until Mina was done eating.
"I wonder how Bakugo's doing. He didn't eat breakfast, and now he's not coming down for lunch. Do you think he's still sleeping?" Kuri asked.
"Maybe you should check on him," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Anyway," she said, getting up. "I'm done eating now, so I'm going back to my dorm. Make sure you check up on Bakugo~"
Kuri rested her head on her hand. She was kind of worried about Bakugo, but couldn't he take care of himself. He was probably like a year older than her. Still, she worried. Even with a cold, he should be able to lug himself downstairs to eat. Unless he was too sick to do even that. She knew he wasn't gonna die or anything since Mr. Aizawa would've sent him to a hospital if that were the case, but she was still worried.
And that's why when she'd finished up her lunch, she found herself standing at Bakugo's door. Before she could stop herself, she knocked on his door. There was no response, so she slowly opened the door. She peered inside and saw Bakugo starfished on his bed, with the sheets half covering him, looking hot (as in temperature) and breathing in a slightly labored way. He'd been staring at the ceiling when Kuri opened the door, but his gaze quickly darted to her, and he scowled.
"What are you doing here? Go away," he said. Kuri stayed in the doorframe but pushed the door open some more.
"Sorry, it's just that you haven't eaten yet breakfast or lunch, so I was wondering if you needed to be reminded? I guess." Bakugo rolled over in his bed to face the wall.
"I'll do it later," he said. Kuri was pulling the door closed when she heard Bakugo's stomach growl loudly. She pushed the door open and stepped into the room.
"...Do you want me to bring your food up here?" she asked.
"No. Now go away," he said, kicking his bedsheets further away from him. She went up beside his bed and crouched down.
"Do you have a fever?" she asked, going to place her hand on his forehead. He tried to bat her hand away but didn't succeed. She pushed his spiky hair back and placed her hand on his skin. He was burning up, and his skin was kind of damp from sweat. She wasn't really sure if it had to do with the cold or his quirk though.
"Your hand is cold. Keep it there," Bakugo said. Kuri's brain stalled a bit as she processed what Bakugo had said. He's not telling me to go away? Weird. He must really be sick. And if he thinks my sweaty ass hand is cold, then he's definitely sick.
"I'm pretty sure you have a fever," Kuri said, getting up. "Here, I'll go get you some medicine or something. I bet they have some in the dorm. Somewhere…"
Bakugo reached up and grabbed her hand. She looked down at him in confusion and a bit of panic. He placed it back on his forehead.
"Stay here," he said. Huh? I literally don't get it anymore. Am I hallucinating or something?
"But you were just telling me to leave like a second ago. Now, stop being weird and let me go get you some medicine. And food." He began to pout and pressed his hand on top of hers. There's something wrong with him for sure… I don't even know him that well and I know for sure that this is not normal…
"Why're you being so clingy? I thought you didn't like me. Is it the fever talking or something?" she asked, trying to pull her hand out of his grip. With that, he turned beet red and nearly threw her hand away from him.
"Wait- No! Get out of here already!" he yelled. Kuri began to leave.
"Ah, that's more like it. I'll be back soon, as long as I can find medicine quickly," she said, closing the door.
"It's in the cabinet on the far left in the kitchen," Bakugo said as she was shutting the door. Kuri stuck her head in one last time to say thanks, then shut the door.
She leaned against the door and exhaled slowly. HOLY FRICKETY FRACKER STUPID CRACKER HE WAS ACTING CUTE! Yikes, it was hard to keep acting so calm.
Kuri sure didn't understand what Bakugo had been doing back there, and while it slightly freaked her out, it was causing her to see Bakugo in a way that she hadn't before. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to see him that way.
He still hated her or something, and while she was pretty chill about… whatever this "rivalry" entailed (it was more of a one-sided rivalry anyway), she didn't think it was really in her best interest to start having feelings for him that exceeded a friendship. Not to mention that liking anyone while she was in Japan would set her up for heartbreak eventually, since she had to move back home after she graduated.
But she was sure that she didn't like him like that. Not yet at least. Knowing her, it was only a matter of time before she fell for someone in Japan.
She went back downstairs to get food for him and grabbed cold medicine. She made a mental note to remind Mina about taking medicine if she hadn't already. Then, she took some of the medicine herself. It tasted gross. She wished that it had been the grape-flavored one.
She got back to Bakugo's room and placed his food and medicine on his table. He got up out of his bed and sat down.
"Took you long enough," he said. Kuri rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I'm gonna go now, so make sure you don't die in here or anything. I'll be in my room. Bye." Kuri then turned around and left, closing the door behind her. As she was walking back to her room, she ran into Mina, who was heading to the bathroom.
"Oh, Kuri how'd it go? Checking on Bakugo, I mean," Mina asked. Kuri told her about the strange hand-on-forehead experience, and that she got him food and medicine. Mina's face showed a mix of terror and confusion after Kuri told her what Bakugo had done, but she also looked like she was plotting something.
"You should probably keep an eye on him, just to be safe. He is definitely not acting normal, so he's either really sick, or it's not really him. We've had problems with villains sneaking in before, plus Bakugo got kidnapped by the League of Villains before, so they could've put a fake Bakugo here to confuse us…" Mina said. Kuri's face must've shown her fear (not to mention how much there was to unpack in that sentence), since Mina said: "Oh, but don't worry. He's probably just really sick."
"That option isn't that good either. Anyway, wouldn't it be better to not disturb him so he can rest and get better?" Kuri asked. Mina dismissed her valid point with a wave of her hand.
"It'll be fine, just be quiet when you sit in there. Maybe bring something to do," Mina said, then walked away.
Kuri went into her dorm, contemplating whether she wanted to bother Bakugo or not. If it really wasn't him, that'd be pretty bad, but she didn't really pick up any vibes that he'd been replaced. As Mina said, he was probably just sick enough for his personality to have gone a little… wacky.
Though Kuri didn't really think he needed her there, she didn't actually have anything better to do, so she decided that she'd go back to his room. She grabbed her phone and headphones and was halfway across the room when she thought to grab her workbooks for studying. She was slightly behind in those, since she'd been preoccupied, so she thought that then would be the perfect time to work. She barged into his room, and he looked up from his food quickly.
"Why're you back?" he asked, with a mouth full of food.
"Well, Mina said I should keep an eye on you just in case. Like if you collapsed, or something, I guess," she said, setting her things on the table and sitting down across from him. He crossed his arms.
"I won't collapse," he said.
"Bold words for someone who had to be carried back to their room last night," Kuri said. Bakugo narrowed his eyes at her.
"What? I walked to my room last night."
"No, we both fell asleep in the common room when we were all watching TV, and then I woke up and carried you to your room," she said. Did he forget that he went downstairs last night?
"You're lying! I never went downstairs." Bakugo said.
"I'm not! Did you seriously forget that you were— wait…" Kuri said. "Do you think there's a chance that you sleep-walked down there?" He rolled his eyes at her.
"I don't sleepwalk." Well, you sleep talk… She drew up her knees to her chest and thought for a bit.
"Hm... If I was able to carry you back upstairs without waking you up, do you think it's possible that someone else carried you downstairs?" she asked.
"Why would someone do that?" he asked.
"I don't know. To mess with you?" she mused.
"Whatever, why didn't you just wake me up instead of carrying me, dumbass?!" he yelled.
"I... was afraid that you'd get mad at me for waking you up," Kuri said quietly.
"Well, now I'm mad that you didn't."
"Is there any scenario where you would've been happy with what I'd done?" she snapped. He looked down and started picking at his food.
"...Probably not."
"Exactly. Now, I'm gonna sit here to keep an eye on you. Don't want you dying or anything just because no one was around." She grabbed her phone and started pulling up some music to listen to.
"Fine, whatever," Bakugo said, resignedly. Kuri grinned. She thought that she'd have to argue with him. It looked like she was pretty lucky.
She opened up her workbook for Japanese (she may be "fluent", but it's not like she had learned everything she needed to know by just going to Japanese school for nine years), and began working, while Bakugo returned to eating. As she studied, she found herself bouncing to her music a bit as she usually did. She looked up at Bakugo, who was staring at her and she smiled. He frowned back.
"Stop dancing. It's annoying," he said. She stopped and frowned.
"You know, you haven't called me Bunny at all today," Kuri said, then wondering why she was reminding him to call her by such an embarrassing nickname.
"Shut up, Bunny." He pushed his empty dishes away and downed the medicine in one gulp. Then, he got up and went back to his bed. Kuri felt that it'd be weird to face him as he was trying to fall asleep, so she moved so that her head was laying on her arm as she wrote. It was kind of hard to read the page, and as soon as she put her head down, she felt tired, but at least Bakugo could sleep without feeling her eyes on him.
Bakugo's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself facing the wall. He was feeling considerably better than when he'd gone to sleep. What time was it anyway? He turned over to check his phone and noticed that Nakano was still there. He'd forgotten about her.
Why'd she have to bother him all the time? It was annoying. As his brain was playing back all the times he'd been annoyed at her, he remembered how he'd grabbed her hand and placed it on his head. He sat up and threw his sheets off, blushing. What the fuck was I thinking?! That's so damn… embarrassing.
He got up to tell Nakano to forget it ever happened, but then he realized she was asleep. What the hell is she thinking, falling asleep in a guy's room. Well, I guess I fell asleep in her room too… But what if I'd tried to take advantage of her? Not that I'd ever want to. She's too annoying for me to like her. Plus, I'm just not that kind of guy. I'm not someone like Mineta.
His gaze drifted to her open book. It looked like some sort of study book for Japanese. He slid it out from underneath her arm and started checking her answers. She'd gotten one wrong, so he grabbed her pencil and left a note telling her that "it's wrong, dumbass". He slid her book back onto the table and walked around to where her head was turned.
She had tears on her eyelashes. The fuck? What's she crying for? Before he knew what he was doing, he was using the pad of his thumb to brush away her tears. Her face scrunched up at his touch and her eyelids fluttered a bit. Shit, she better not be waking up. He stumbled back, trying to think of an excuse. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him with a smile.
"Hey," she said. Is she trying to act cute or something? Damn it.
"...Hey," he replied. She sat up straight and stretched.
"You feeling better now?" she asked. "That nap made me feel better. What about you?"
"I'm fine, so you can leave now," he said. She sighed and began to gather up her stuff.
"Harsh. Though I guess I did just invite myself in. See you later, Katsuki," she said, getting up. Not my first name again… He grabbed her shoulder and she turned around and leaned down so that they were face-to-face. Kuri leaned back a bit as his face got close to hers.
"I told you not to call me that, so don't," he said through gritted teeth. He let go of her and pushed her back slightly. She narrowed her eyes at him and frowned.
"Fine," she said, and turned around, but didn't move. She took a deep breath and released it. She turned her head back around, and she had tears in her eyes. "And for the record, Bakugo," she said shakily. "I despise people like you."
