Kuri drew her knees up to her chest self-consciously, causing the bathwater to make little waves around her. Being naked around other people sure felt weird. No matter how many times she visited a hot spring when she went to Japan, she never got used to it. However, this was not a hot spring; it was the huge bath in the girls' bathroom of their dorm.
Mina had decided that to celebrate their success during the school festival that day, the girls should take a bath. Kuri wondered why a communal bath was the chosen thing to celebrate with. Like, girl, what? But she decided not to question Mina since she didn't really care anyway.
"So, how was everyone's day today?" Momo asked. "I had a wonderful time during the pageant, even though I didn't win."
"Well, it was fun to perform onstage," Kuri said. "Afterward, I went to see Class B's play. It was freaking crazy, but pretty funny."
Ochako, Tsu, Mina, and Hagakure also went on to tell anecdotes about their day, but Jirou stayed silent and listened while playing with her ear jacks. She had a distant look in her eyes as if something were on her mind. The others seemed to notice her strange behavior as well.
"Jirou," Tsu said, causing Jirou to perk up. "Is something wrong?"
She shook her head and sighed.
"No, but I want to get something off my chest," she said. She took a deep breath and stared down at her hands. "I… have a crush on Denki…"
"Oh my god!" Mina exclaimed. Jirou covered her face with her hands as she blushed. "Finally, you're admitting it. I thought I'd have to wait years for this..."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Jirou said. "I always thought he was just some idiot who had no interest in me, so I suppressed my feelings. But something happened a few weeks ago..."
"Ooo, what happened?" Hagakure asked.
"Well," Jirou said. "Honestly, I'm not sure if it was anything or if I just was looking too far into it. Anyways, Denki came by my dorm to get extra practice, and then I think he tried to kiss me? I'm not sure."
"If you like him, why didn't you kiss him back?" Tsu asked.
"I was nervous… and I wasn't sure what he was doing exactly. He was just leaning in really close to my face-"
"Then he was probably trying to kiss you!" Mina exclaimed. Kuri nodded in agreement.
"I guess so…" Jirou said, holding her face in her hands. "In any case, it made me happy. Maybe he's not such an idiot after all…"
"Oh my freaking god... Kaminari, you need to hear this," Bakugo heard Mineta say, his ear pressed up against the wall separating the different bathrooms. Bakugo scoffed at the pervert.
Mineta had barged in earlier, going on about the girls all having a bath together. Then after that, he told the guys in the bathroom about some fucked up fantasy that Bakugo didn't even want to think about.
"Ugh, dude, what is it?" Kaminari asked tiredly, rinsing out his hair. He'd been down for a few weeks. Bakugo had initially assumed it was something dumb that was upsetting Kaminari, but as time went on he thought it might have to do with Jirou.
"Jirou is talking about you," Mineta replied. When he heard this, Kaminari jumped up and ran butt-naked to the wall. About a minute passed as Kaminari stood there listening with the other guys in the bathroom waiting in anticipation.
A grin suddenly spread across Kaminari's face, and he stepped away from the wall and began to dance around the room. Bakugo turned away from whatever the hell that was.
"She likes me back!" Kaminari exclaimed, spinning around.
"She likes you back! Congrats, dude!" Mineta said, his ear still pressed to the tile wall.
"Bro, stop dancing," Kirishima said. "You're going to slip and fall." Kaminari did not heed this warning and continued to dance until he actually did slip. Luckily for the idiot, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow caught him before he hit the ground.
Mineta suddenly spoke up again.
"Bakugo, Kuri is talking about you."
Bakugo froze.
Why the hell was she talking about him? What was she saying? Now that he thought about it, he really didn't know what she thought of him. No matter what he said or did to her, she seemed to be unwavering in her kindness and teasing. She seemed to have a positive opinion of him. She had even told him outright that she didn't hate him… but could she have been lying?
"Dude, hurry up before she starts talking about something else," Mineta said.
Against his better judgment, Bakugo's body moved to the wall, as if he weren't in control of his limbs. He pressed his ear to the wall. The voices on the other side were quite muffled, but Bakugo still managed to make out the words.
"...for a little bit, so I don't really know," he heard Kuri say. His heart began to beat slightly faster. Was he seriously nervous?!
"But do you like him or not?" Uraraka asked. Bakugo's eyes widened in shock. Like him? Like a crush?
"What?! Hm…," Kuri said slowly. Bakugo held his breath, awaiting her answer. "Well, this is what I think of him: he's a bully, constantly angry, uncooperative, and overall kind of a pain."
Bakugo immediately stood up, his eyes dark. Of course, that's what she thought of him. Mineta stepped away from the wall as well.
"Wow," Mineta said. "Bakugo, I'm sor-"
"Shut up! I don't care." He stormed away, hearing Kirishima ask what happened as he took his stuff and left. Bakugo didn't even know why he had his hopes up. What was he even hoping for? He didn't like her, and she didn't like him. It was simple. But even a part of him had to admit that it was kind of sad.
"Well, with Jirou's confession out of the way," Mina said. "What's up with you and Bakugo, Kuri?" She turned to Mina with a panicked look on her face. Could Mina possibly know how she felt towards him? But how? She hadn't even told her yet.
She cleared her throat and quickly thought up how she would relay all the thoughts spinning around in her head.
"Um… I think we're friends? Maybe just acquaintances, though. I'm not very sure what he thinks of me exactly. He seems to be mad at me a lot of the time, but I don't think that's very different from how he treats everyone else. Sometimes I feel like he's being cold towards me because he doesn't want me around. But again, is that different from how you guys are treated?" Kuri asked rhetorically. "I've only been around for a little bit, so I still don't really know."
"But do you like him or not?" Ochako asked.
"What?! Hm…," she said. The conversation was going just as she thought it would. "Well, this is what I think of him: he's a bully, constantly angry, uncooperative, and overall kind of a pain."
She watched in satisfaction at Mina's shocked face.
"So, you hate him?!" Mina exclaimed. "Oh no, my ship..."
"No! I wasn't done," Kuri said. "While I do think that he can be really annoying sometimes, I still think he's smart and strong and cool. Plus, sometimes he's fun to laugh at. Teasingly, not as in bullying. And, um, he can be sort of… cute."
Mina gasped so violently that Kuri swore she sucked up all the air in the room.
"You like him?" Mina whispered, almost as if she couldn't quite believe what Kuri had said. Kuri nodded, blushing slightly and grinning.
"Hell yeah!" Mina screamed, hugging Kuri. She hugged Mina back awkwardly, considering the setting. "Let's go tell him right now!" Mina climbed out of the bath, the rest of them following her.
"What?!" Kuri exclaimed. "No way! What about Jirou?"
"Right!" Mina said, turning to Jirou. Jirou frowned at Kuri, and she laughed. "Okay, Kuri, your turn will come soon, but first, it's time for Jirou to shine."
"There's no way you can make me do that," Jirou said.
And then they went to go and make her do that.
Mina stood behind Jirou, trying to convince her to just do it.
"Girl, I'm telling you, there's no way he'll reject you," Mina said. Jirou shook her head and went on about how she was too scared to do it. Mina rested her chin on Jirou's shoulder.
"Come on! He's literally right there!" Mina whispered, subtly pointing to where Kaminari and Kiri were sitting on the couches and talking, occasionally glancing at the two of them.
Then Kaminari stood up and began to walk over. Mina quickly ditched Jirou, leaving her to face her crush along. She rejoined with Kuri and the other girls who were watching from a safe distance. Kiri walked over too, and Mina noticed their other classmates begin to crowd around.
"Kirishima, what's going on?" Kuri asked. He grinned.
"Kaminari is about to confess his feelings. It only took this long for him to get around to it," he said with a chuckle.
"Wait, really?" Kuri asked. "That's crazy. Jirou literally just told us that she likes him too."
"Wow, what a coincidence," Kiri said with an awkward laugh. Hm, that's strange…
They turned their attention back to the two in the center of the room. Kaminari grabbed Jirou's hands, and she froze.
"Jirou… I… uh…" he mumbled, staring at her as if he were starstruck. Kaminari, please don't mess this up.
"...What is it?" Jirou asked hesitantly. He took a deep breath, and his eyes suddenly turned very serious.
"I really like you. You're super cool. And hot. Wanna go out with me?" he asked. Jirou blinked back at him, her face as red as a lobster. I swear if she curves him…
"Okay," she said, causing the class to erupt into cheers. Kaminari grinned, and he lifted Jirou up, then began spinning her around.
"I love you so much!" he exclaimed, causing Jirou to blush even more.
"Honestly, I kinda imagined that if you ever asked me out, you'd do a song and dance," Jirou said, giggling. Kaminari laughed and put her down.
"I can do one now if you want," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Mina turned back to Kuri and Kiri.
"It's too bad that Bakugo missed out on this," Kiri said. "I'm not sure if he would've wanted to see it, though."
"Where is he anyway?" Kuri asked. "I thought he was supposed to be in the bathroom with you guys. Did he ditch you?" Mina elbowed Kuri's arm suggestively. She tried to convey the following thoughts with her eyes. So you wanna know where he is, huh? I see you, girl. Go get your man.
Kiri rubbed the back of his neck and looked away awkwardly.
"I guess I'll just explain it all. So you know how I said it was a 'coincidence' that Kaminari happened to confess after Jirou told you guys that she likes him?" he asked. Mina and Kuri nodded slowly. "Well, Mineta was listening in on your conversation, so that's how we knew about it." Mina shivered. To think that that disgusting pervert had been invading their privacy yet again…
"Well, that's kind of problematic, but I guess it ended okay," Kuri said. "What does that have to do with Bakugo, though?"
"Well, Mineta heard when you asked Kuri about her opinion of Bakugo. And uh, Bakugo heard what you said," Kiri said with a pitying tone. Kuri's hand slapped over her mouth in shock, and Mina saw blush creep over her face and ears.
"And what'd he say?" Mina asked enthusiastically. She couldn't believe that her ship might be sailing already. Kiri looked at her strangely.
"He got mad and left. What did you expect?" he asked. Mina furrowed her brow in confusion. Kuri shared her expression.
"Why would he be angry that she likes him?" Mina asked, earning an even more confused look from Kiri. Then, Kuri's face fell.
"He must've only heard the first part," she said.
"Wait, there was more?" Kiri asked. "What did you say?"
"Well, after I said why I think he's annoying, I said all the things I like about him," Kuri said. "And that I have a crush on him..." Kiri put a hand over his mouth and gasped.
"Oh god… he was so mad! You should probably go tell him and clear this up," Kiri said. Mina nodded in agreement.
"No way! I can't tell him that I like him yet!" Kuri whisper-yelled. "I'm not mentally prepared."
"Fine, just clear things up for now. You don't want him hating you or anything," Mina said. Kuri frowned.
"Let's hope that doesn't happen."
Kuri stood outside of Bakugo's dorm, psyching herself up to knock on the door. She didn't know why she was so nervous. All Kuri had to say was that while she had some negative opinions, she still liked him as a person. It really didn't have the same impact without telling him that she was also in love with him…
Kuri sighed and knocked on the door. She then waited for a bit and was met with no response. She groaned and began banging on the door.
"Bakugo! Open the door!" she yelled. "I need to talk to you!"
He still didn't answer.
"I'm going to go outside and jump up onto your balcony if you don't answer me!" she yelled, continuing to smack the door. Then it swung open, and Kuri stumbled forward. She looked up at Bakugo, who was frowning deeply.
"What the fuck do you want?"
Kuri took a deep breath and tried a smile. Bakugo did not return it and instead scowled even harder.
"I was told that you heard some of what I said earlier," she said. "And I just wanted to tell you that you missed the rest of my statement." Bakugo sighed.
"Look, Nakano," Bakugo said. He didn't call me Bunny… "I don't know how you're going to try and convince me that you don't hate me. First, you say you 'despise people like me', then you call me 'a pain'. How the fuck am I supposed to believe what you say if you say things like that behind my back?"
Kuri's breath hitched, panic rising in her. How was she going to get her feelings across if he thought like that?
"I…" Kuri said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know how to make you believe me. But I just want to say that despite the bad things I think about you, I still think you are a good person that I at least want to be friends with."
Kuri stared down at her shaking hands, scolding herself for crying in front of him. She really wanted to just tell him that she loved him, but she was too scared of rejection. If he rejected her, they would never even get to be friends, and then what?
"Stop fucking crying," Bakugo said exhaustedly. Kuri wiped her eyes with her sweatshirt sleeve.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just really don't want you to hate me," she said shakily.
Then, she felt a hand being placed on her head. She looked up, shocked to see Bakugo no longer scowling at her. And also shocked that he was patting her head.
"I guess I'll believe you for now, so stop crying, Bunny," he said. He wasn't smiling at her, which was a bit disappointing, but nonetheless, Kuri's stomach filled with butterflies.
She smiled and placed her hand on top of his.
"Thank you, Bakugo."
