Chapter 162

Kirishima came to a stop in front of the door.

He looked up and down the empty corridor to make sure that he was alone, and then he knocked three times.

The low murmur he could hear inside stopped. There were footsteps, then the door opened surreptitiously.

Through the half-open door, Kirishima saw half of Jiro's face.

The teenager opened the door wider.

"You're late"

Kirishima scratched his neck and stepped inside, Jiro gently closing the door behind him.

"Sorry, I was with Shindo" he said.

The students of 1-A were sitting on beanbags and armchairs - at least what was left of them.

Asui sat in the back, on a daisy-shaped stool, her feet close to her chest, her arms wrapped around her ankles. She still looked sullen, but she seemed much better than before.

Kirishima smiled at her.

Uraraka was sitting on the floor next to her, talking to her in a low voice ; she waved at Kirishima when she met his gaze.

Ojiro stood in front of the small bookshelf on the left, flipping through comic books.

Séro was slumped over, scrolling through his laptop, staring blankly, purple - almost black - circles under his eyes. He had been the closest to Kaminari, so even though they tried to shake him gently sometimes, everyone mostly left him alone.

Mezo sat at the foot of Kyoka's bed, his back against the wooden rail, his arms hanging over his knees, waiting patiently for their meeting to begin.

Sato, Tokoyami and Izuku sat in a circle on sofas around a small, low table, and played cards.

The room was small and cramped, but it was the largest of the two dormitories.

Because of her hypersensitivity to sound, Kyoka had asked for a room a little farther away so that she could rest without having to hear her classmates wandering around their rooms at all hours of the night.

She had been given the empty space under the communal showers, which served as a storage room and which Cementos had converted into a studio in just ten minutes.

The idea of turning it into their headquarters hadn't suddenly occurred to her.

It was just that one day Yaoyorozu had wanted to confide in Jiro at the same time that Séro had felt the need to talk to her about Kaminari, that Kirishima had had one of those nights when he couldn't sleep because of nightmares and had to go to someone, and that Asui - who also couldn't sleep - had bumped into him in the hallway after lights out, and that one thing led to another and they all ended up in Jiro's room talking to comfort each other.

At first, they sat on the cold floor with the lights off so that Aizawa or another teacher on duty wouldn't catch them.

It was Yaoyorozu who had provided all the sofas, furniture, and insulation for the door before leaving Yuei.

"We're all here" Jiro said.

There was silence.

The others turned to Kirishima, and those who hadn't seen him smiled or waved.

Jiro went and lay down on the bed, her hand supporting her head.

Kirishima wanted to sit next to Séro, but decided to leave him alone. He went and sat down on the carpet next to Mezo, shoulder to shoulder.

He began to pull at the threads of the carpet and looked down.

"I was with Shindo," he said. "I felt guilty because I think we excluded him too much and that made him feel uncomfortable"

"We can't tell him", Jiro muttered. "What are we supposed to do ?"

"I know," Kirishima said. "It's simply... We have to try, okay ? Imagine if we were in his shoes : he arrives in a place he doesn't know, with people who have already formed their cliques, and no one ever talks to him"

Aizawa had recently taken their small group aside, worried that the recent events had made them withdrawn and sectarian.

He had told them that it was bad for them to dwell on what had happened and that if they needed help, the school psychologist was available 24 hours a day.

No one wanted to talk to a psychiatrist.

The only one who had tried had been Yaoyorozu, and she had ended up leaving school.

Kirishima envied her for being able to leave without question ; he wished he could leave too and put it all behind, but he'd feel like a coward by abandoning his friends.

They were the only reason he stayed.

"We could" Séro said, his voice hoarse and dry, without looking up from his cell phone "have lunch with him tomorrow"

"Maybe even organize something", Izuku said. "Since it's Tuesday and we all get off early, we could have a movie night"

The idea seemed to be well received.

Then Mezo's voice, calm and sharp, broke the beginnings of cheerfulness.

"But it doesn't change anything : we'll still be talking to each other without saying anything to him, and that will continue to irritate him"

It was the same reason why no one had told Inaza about their little meetings.

Inaza was vehement and would get furious whenever anyone brought up Todoroki or the summer camp.

He wasn't mean, and everyone liked him, it was just that sometimes everyone only wanted to chat without necessarily having to get angry or argue.

Shindo, on the other hand, was trying to fit in where they had no right or desire to include him: recent events had indelibly bound them together in a way that was strikingly different from any other group of teenagers their age.

"It would be better if he left Yuei"

There was silence.

No one disagreed.

"Hey, do you remember Ashido ?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Kirishima saw Ochaco shift. He turned to her, thinking that she remembered as well, but it was Ojiro who asked :

"Who ?"

"A girl who was in our class at the beginning of the year. She must have spent about three days with us. She left Yuei after the incident at the USJ"

Kirishima thought he heard a mumbled 'lucky'.

"I remember her", Jiro said. "She had pink skin, didn't she ?"

"Yeah, she had some acid Quirk too"

The blue light from Sero's screen illuminated his face.

"No recollection"

"Why ?" asked Jiro. "Did something happen?"

"We went to school together... I mean, it's not like I knew her or anything, but just, I don't know, with everything that happened at the camp and the ban on talking to anyone about what we saw..."

He'd gotten back in touch with some of his old school friends, and no one knew where Ashido had gone.

He was probably exaggerating, but he had the feeling of being kept in the dark like Shindo.

"Yeah" Sato said. "This ban really sucks. I know it's for Yuei's sake and to avoid causing panic, but sometimes I wish I could talk to my parents about it"

Kirishima preferred to let the discussion drift.

- "Yeah, me too" Jiro said half-heartedly, pulling her blanket over her lap. "If only so they can tell me that it was an isolated incident, that this isn't the usual life of a Hero"

Then slowly, one by one, they opened up to each other, comforted by the thought that even though their situation was horrible, they weren't alone.

*

Bonus:

He was nice. 

It hadn't taken him buying her a restaurant or drowning her in compliments for Ochaco to realize that.

Katsuki was friendly in a different way than most people.

She didn't need to be cajoled or treated like she was made of glass and Katsuki understood that perfectly.

He was gallant without being childish, attentive without being intrusive.

He asked her questions and listened attentively to her answers, nodding his chin gently as if everything that came out of Ochaco's mouth was gold.

He wasn't one for public affection - or affection at all - but he did take the time to make her math review sheets for subjects she found difficult to understand, even though he didn't need them himself.

Whenever she went downstairs for a snack and Katsuki was around, he always peeled an apple, which he pretended he didn't want at the last second and ended up forcefully putting in her hand because "You only like peeled apples anyway, right ? Eat this, I hate wasting stuff"

In the mornings, when everyone was in the kitchen and they didn't want to look suspicious when they greeted each other (something they never did even once since the beginning of the year), Katsuki always found a way to walk past her and brush his hand against hers without looking at her, murmuring a 'slept well ?"

She liked the way his face lit up when he talked about All Might or becoming a Hero. She found his slightly naive excitement every time Aizawa-sensei announced that they were going to practice adorable.

She liked him.

So she teased him.

"You're always so focused when you're eating : it's as if the food you're eating is the only thing that matters in the whole world..."

"Is that so ? Ah, that's because I often eat with Shoto and I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable when he's eating..." He met her gaze "Anyway, bad habit"

The discussion came to a halt.

Katsuki was surprisingly quiet when he was calm.

She tried to change the topic - she didn't like talking about Todoroki.

"Why... I mean, since when are you interested in me ?"

Katsuki stopped eating, head above his bowl.

This whole 'getting to know each other and spending time together' was new for her too.

Before him, no one had ever been really interested in her, so she'd always lived with the idea that she wasn't the kind of girl boys were interested in.

She had learned to live in the background, smiling through gritted teeth, her ego bruised, but telling herself that it didn't matter.

But maybe Katsuki thought she was pretty.

Nervously, she almost bit her nails, stopped her hand halfway to her mouth and forced herself to put it down on the table.

His blonde hair hid his forehead, but his cheeks were flushed, and she couldn't decide whether it was because due to the heat from the food or because she was intimidating him.

"Remember the championship ?"

He started playing with the stuffing in his noodles.

"I was in the stands when you faced Shoto. I remember the look on your face when the others told you that you could give up right from the start, laughing like it was a joke..."

Ochaco pursed his lips bitterly.

"Then you went down in the arena and dislocated your thumb just to win something you knew you'd lose anyway... I don't know, but I thought : a girl who's capable of doing that only to win... I don't know. I thought it was kind of cool"

Ochaco blinked, slightly moved.

Part of her was disappointed that he hadn't said he thought she was 'beautiful'. It was childish and silly, yes, but she wanted to be beautiful for someone.

But a major part of her was glad, because what he'd just said was more personal than a generic 'beautiful'.

She began to smile, hiding it behind the hand she was resting her cheek on.

He continued to play with his noodles, as if he didn't know what to do with his hands now that the big revelation was out there.

"So the great Katsuki Bakugo admires me ?"

He gave her a piercing look, slightly annoyed.

"I never said 'admire', don't put words in my mouth"

Ochaco's smile widened.

"Do you want to know how long I've been interested in you ?"

He gave her a sideways glance, then shrugged as if to say 'do what you want', but he didn't start eating again.

She almost told him that she'd found him unbearable at first. That she had been one of those who rolled her eyes in disdain every time he came into the classroom screaming.

Then there was the conflict with the kid from the other class, right before the championship.

She had thought that Todoroki was going to hit him.

Then Inaza had stepped in and Ochaco, at first relieved, had been very worried that the situation would get out of hand because Todoroki had really, really looked like he was about to commit murder

Then suddenly, Katsuki had stepped in, proudly siding with Todoroki when everyone else disapproved, pushing Inaza aside and lecturing everyone.

For the first time, Ochaco had listened to him - really listened.

Katsuki was a good person, the kind of person you wanted to have by your side.

She'd wondered what it would be like to have someone so loyal by her side.

Ochaco opened her mouth then closed it again.

She was confused about how to put it, didn't know exactly where to begin, stupidly realized that she'd actually liked him longer than he'd liked her (and that was a bit shameful) felt suddenly shy when he looked her straight in the eye, his red eyes scrutinizing her with terrifying intensity.

She said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Remember summer camp ? When you and the other boys jumped off the pier ? I really enjoyed watching you run around with your shirt off"

Ochaco had absolutey no idea where this audacity had come from.

Too far gone in her stupidity, she preferred to save face by looking him straight in the eye, face blank.

Katsuki blinked three times in a row, speechless.

Then he put his hand to his face to hide his expression, his ears flushed to the tips.

"Shit..."

Ochaco burst out laughing.

She really, really liked him.

*

Author's note :

If you want to read ahead of schedule up to 27 chapters, you can go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !