Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The consequence of going all out was being ordered to stay in the hospital for a month.

The culprit had already been express-delivered by Kirisame back to Hellsalem's Lot, handed over to Mr. Abrams for research. She heard that while she was asleep, Aizawa had specially called in a healing hero, who treated most of the serious injuries, leaving only some minor ones to heal on their own.

Although part of her wounds had healed, the aftereffects of overusing her ability lingered, and Kirisame could only lie still obediently.

Biting into an apple cut into the shape of a rabbit by Mr. Yagi, who had just visited, Kirisame smiled and waved her hand at Midoriya, who had come to see her.

Midoriya, teary-eyed, blurted out: "Are you okay?! How come you're covered in bandages—blah blah blah—a villain that could make both All Might and Endeavor mobilize at the same time must have been terrifying—"

"Mm, I'm pretty much recovered," Kirisame said, using her less injured left hand to spear a piece of apple and stuff it into the freckled boy's mouth to stop his rambling. Then she thought of Nighteye: "The one who handled it was a really reliable hero."

"Yeah," the boy's gaze softened, the lingering worry making his dark green eyes look slightly watery: "That's great!"

...Then his tone took on an odd enthusiasm: "Which hero was it?"

Kirisame: "..."

Midoriya-style hero gossip: orange alert.

"No, no, I don't really remember," she said firmly.

"...Oh." He sounded a bit disappointed.

[Quick, change the subject!!]

Kirisame looked at the hand the boy extended to hand her back the fork and noticed his arm seemed a little sturdier than it had been a month ago.

"Looks like you've made some progress," the girl said, poking Midoriya's arm with her right hand, which was wrapped up like a mummy with only a tiny tip of her fingers exposed.

[Absolutely can't say anything about All Might]

Midoriya reacted as if Kirisame had zapped him, jumped up and shook his head frantically:

"I-it's nothing, really! I just suddenly thought I couldn't keep going like this, and I happened to meet someone willing to teach me, so I decided to train hard, but I'm still too weak, even though..."

His voice grew quieter and more uncertain, as if he felt guilty about something, and finally he covered his face in distress.

...Did I pick the wrong topic again? Kirisame felt a bit confused.

"Alright, alright, visiting hours are over. Kid, go on home now," Aizawa said, pushing the door open with a lunchbox in hand.

"Sorry for the intrusion!" the boy quickly stood up to say goodbye.

"Thanks for coming to see me~" Kirisame blinked.

Deku froze for a moment, then gave a soft, embarrassed smile: "N-no need to thank me!!"

He rubbed the back of his head, a little flushed: "Because we're friends... right?"

"..."

"Yeah."

Watching the boy walk out of the hospital room with stiff, synchronous steps, Aizawa clicked his tongue: "Tch."

Friend.

It seemed... kind of nice.

Watching Kirisame roll over on the bed while hugging the little cake that Midoriya's mom had given her as a gift, a helplessly soft expression crossed the guardian's face.

For some reason, the kid seemed a bit livelier lately?

Well, it probably wasn't a bad thing.

Closing the door, Shota Aizawa sat down beside Kirisame's bed and opened the lunchbox.

It was a simple homemade lunchbox with a little cat drawn on the lid. The omelet rolls, cut into easy-to-eat sizes, were fluffy and golden, and yet still warm.

Kirisame used her left hand to spear one and stuffed it into her mouth, squinting happily.

Except for the bandages that covered almost her entire body, the girl seemed totally carefree, her cheeks puffed out.

Shota Aizawa could barely imagine the scene of her fighting desperately against the Blood Clan.

"Nighteye has covered this up. Given the location, the media was told that Endeavor handled it. You were still asleep at the time..." Adjusting his wording out of consideration for the girl's pride, the guardian continued: "Still unconscious, actually, so he came to ask for my opinion first. What do you think?"

"Mm-hmm," Kirisame was wrapped up in the cooking of the single middle-aged guy to have any opinion: "That's fine, the association back there will give me a bonus later anyway. Thank you!"

"By the way," the girl said, still chewing, her voice muffled: "You don't seem like the type who can cook?"

Meeting the girl's sparkling golden eyes, Aizawa was left speechless for the first time in a long while.

"..."

Kirisame: Just stared...

The guardian looked away, a bit uncomfortable: "What, you think I learned to cook for fun? If you have a problem, order delivery."

[So he really did make it himself...]

"No, no, your skills are amazing! It tastes like, uh, legendary mother's cooking!— mgh!"

"Just eat your food," he gruffly stuffed a piece of broccoli into Kirisame's mouth as a side dish, but his eyes softened briefly.

In the girl's surprised look, the Pro Hero pulled back his messy black hair that hung over his shoulders, stood up, walked to the other side of the bed, and bowed deeply to Kirisame.

"I know it must have been very difficult back then. Even if I can't give you the credit you deserve due to some objective reasons, then at least let me, as a Pro Hero, represent the people of this city you protected, and thank you for what you did!"

Even though she'd been doing this kind of work ever since she joined Libra, being thanked so solemnly like this was a first.

Kirisame was stunned. She swallowed the food quickly, thought about what the boss would do in this situation, and came up blank.

Her dazed expression made her look a little silly. A few golden crumbs were still at the corner of her mouth from the omelet she had just swallowed. Her long, thick eyelashes brushed together as she spoke up, beginning to explain:

"Um... you really don't have to do that. I get paid for this kind of work— it's part of my job."

...Was that too cold?

"No, no, I mean, this was just me acting according to the situation and my personal safety... Anyway, thank you for allowing me to take action. I'm glad it didn't turn into something worse!"

Did that sound a bit better?

Feeling a little embarrassed, she burrowed under the covers.

Then, through the blanket, she felt a gentle touch on her head. "That was the Pro Hero speaking. As your guardian, I still hope you'll try your best to protect yourself. There was no choice this time, but if you ever can seek help in the future, lean on your companions more."

[Just like Mr. Klaus said...]

After a long pause, a thoughtful voice came from under the blanket.

"...Since I've made such a big contribution to society, can I skip the entrance exam?"

"No. You can't." Ice cold.

"Oh." Double ice cold.

"Waaaaah, what about the teacher-student bond?!"

"We'll talk about that after you pass the exam."

But even without skipping the exam, the guardian did take Kirisame's situation seriously.

—So he found a tutor for her.

Someone very familiar to her...

Mirio Togata-senpai.

The senior was probably feeling guilty about not being able to help her that day. When he heard she had "fallen behind in her studies because of the hospital stay" (surprisingly considerate in that subtle way), he managed to squeeze out some time from his busy classes and internships to tutor her.

Faced with this heavy debt of gratitude and equally heavy academic pressure... Kirisame had no choice but to get serious and buckle down and enter exam mode.

Midoriya had also heard a bit about Kirisame's state—so focused she looked like she had a "Victory" headband on—but since he wasn't much better off himself, Koku could only offer mental support, much as he wanted to do more. Kirisame and Midoriya were both too busy to tell who had it worse; aside from a daily "are you alive" message, they barely had time for anything else.

Zapp was probably feeling some inexplicable guilt too, because he hadn't taken the chance to send any mocking letters. According to Leo, the guy was secretly saving up to buy her a huge insurance policy, hoping it might calm her down. Leo scoffed at the insane idea of Zapp making himself the beneficiary and expressed strong concern for Kirisame's personal safety.

Kirisame waved her hand to reassure him, saying maybe she'd die before Zapp saved up enough to buy the insurance.

Leo was horrified.

After a grueling seven or eight months of "You've got this, Kirisame!! So let's do another set!" and "If you improve today, I'll treat you to ice cream, senpai!!" and "Go for it!! Push yourself even further!!" and so on, the U.A. entrance exam was finally approaching.

A few days before the exam, Kirisame realized she was actually a little nervous.

She carefully stored the paper airplane her boss had sent to cheer her on, feeling torn.

...For the Hero Course, what should she wear and take to the exam? Were there any unspoken rules or something?

She messaged KK remotely and received a brand new set of stationery with a gun tucked inside it.

"..."

Probably KK and her son had prepared it together.

Expressionless, she stuffed the gun into the cabinet and texted Midoriya.

Asking Mirio-senpai was no use—no matter what he wore for his own test, it was all destroyed by the end.

Looking at his long reply listing what to bring, what to be careful of, and what to wear for ease of movement, Kirisame sincerely thought Midoriya was a really good guy.

...And clearly, he was nervous too.

In fact, Koku even passed on Kirisame's question to his childhood friend Bakugo.

The reply was:

"Huh?"

"Who cares?!"

"Are you insane?!"

Meanwhile, compared to the regular examinees, those who had already passed the recommendation exam were much more relaxed.

Shoto Todoroki came out of the family training room. The long, intense training session left the boy's steps trembling slightly.

His older sister had already made dinner downstairs and told him to call their father up after he finished.

His father, the No. 2 hero Endeavor, had been in a bad mood for months after taking the blame for some anonymous hero yet again in a major incident that had involved many Pro Heroes.

...Which had made these past few months good ones for him.

The boy walked to the door and saw his father, who had just finished training, sitting at the table with a contemplative look.

In his hand was a photo.

In the photo was a girl of thirteen or fourteen, with black hair and golden eyes, smiling.

"Hmph, so that girl is going to U.A. too..."

The boy heard Endeavor say this.

On the edge of the photo was written the girl's name.

—"Aizawa Kirisame."