Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The consequence of both of them zoning out was that they crashed again.

One second they were flying just fine, and the next second, somehow, they plunged headfirst.

...For some reason, Kirisame wasn't surprised by this outcome at all.

Since there was no more flying, Kirisame retracted He Wan—who, despite having no physical form so he couldn't die from falling, still yelped 'Wah!'—and tried to angle herself into a nearby pond.

"Ha—hahaha! Kirisame—found you!!!"

Almost at the same moment she heard the voice, Kirisame felt herself crashing into someone's chest.

...So hard, her nose nearly flattened. Kirisame looked up and, sure enough, saw a golden striped suit.

"Th...thank you QAQ"

The little girl looked up with tearful eyes, holding her nose as she jumped down from All Might's arms.

All Might had already switched himself back to standby mode. Originally planning to talk with Kirisame, he came out of his office but couldn't find her anywhere. Following Young Midoriya's advice, he went to the back mountain but found no one there either. Just as he was about to give up, he heard a sound and looked up to see the child tumbling down from the sky.

...Good thing he caught her.

Speaking of which, Kirisame... she was heavier than she looked. The teacher, completely drained from forcing himself to stay transformed, subtly touched his nearly-pulled back and his eyes crinkled in a smile at Kirisame.

"...How about we go get some tea?"

"...Eh?"

Kirisame and All Might sat facing each other in his teacher's lounge.

She had expected to be scolded, but this No.1 Hero turned out to be surprisingly gentle when it came to discipline. After hearing her explanation, he didn't get angry; he just patted her head, told her not to do it again next time, and even offered advice on how to train that flying ability.

...He even quietly promised not to tell Mr. Aizawa.

Kirisame felt she would never meet a better person.

But at this moment, All Might was a bit unsure how to start.

Even though he had reasons he had to act on, he couldn't ignore the fact that he had concealed things earlier, had his cover blown, and had received help. The No.1 Hero suddenly felt like his tongue was tied.

"Did you call me here because of what happened at USJ before?" Kirisame, having finished most of her thermos without a word from him, decided to speak up.

All Might let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

Just like with Young Midoriya, he lifted his shirt a little.

Kirisame finally saw the wound she had noticed the first time she met this Mr. Yagi.

"I got this a few years ago fighting a villain," he explained. "The injury was so severe that after years of treatment, I barely managed to survive, and I can't maintain my muscle form for long."

[So that's why Midoriya rushed out that day...]

"I'm really sorry for hiding it from you, Kirisame." The golden-haired man across from her wore a face full of apology.

"No, no, it's your freedom. You don't need to apologize to me." Kirisame blinked.

There was no obvious emotion on the girl's face. Unlike Young Midoriya's intense reaction when he first heard about it, she didn't even look surprised.

Faced with this, All Might—who'd mentally rehearsed a five-thousand-word speech—found himself at a loss.

"Very few people know about this right now. Please don't tell anyone."

Kirisame nodded.

Then she hesitated for a moment, perhaps out of concern, and finally asked: "Here... is it shameful for a Pro Hero to get injured in battle?"

This question made All Might laugh.

"Haha, of course not," he said, handing the girl a cookie: "—"

"It's just that—"

"As the Symbol of Peace, I can't fall yet."

—Because I carry the hopes of countless people for justice, I can't take a single step back in the face of evil.

Kirisame suddenly understood what he meant.

"...Is that okay?"

Doesn't it feel hard?

Even though it was said vaguely, All Might understood what Kirisame meant.

—This child is worried about him.

Was this a sign of getting close to her? Recalling how the child had walked past him without changing expression when he was severely injured and bleeding, All Might suddenly felt a sense of satisfaction as if he had finally befriended a stray cat in the neighborhood.

Having been used to the extraordinary trust and admiration from most people, he found it amusing to hear such a serious, childlike concern.

Instantly switching to his muscle form, the No.1 Hero flashed a "victory" sign at Kirisame.

"It's fine! Don't worry!"

Then with a "puff," he couldn't hold it and transformed back, coughing as he struggled to speak.

"Cough... cough, after all, this is the resolve I've had since I decided to become the Symbol of Peace, cough, I, I've had it."

Although he kept coughing and spitting blood, his tone was steady, and spoken so casually, it made people believe he would definitely manage.

Looking at him, Kirisame felt for a moment that when she occasionally thought "I'm so tired" while holding He Wan's hand, she was really pathetic.

She looked at All Might, who was spitting blood again. The hand the Pro Hero extended to wipe the blood was almost just bone. "Haven't you found a way to treat it further?"

The golden-haired man shook his head with a bitter smile.

...Maybe she could take him to the hospital in Leset later and ask the nurse with the cowlick.

Thinking this, Kirisame tried to comfort him: "Don't worry, there will always be a way."

The hero smiled.

With the Sports Festival coming up, almost all the students were fired up.

During breaks, the single and double training rooms were basically filled every day with people training or sparring. Kirisame, who had never watched a single Sports Festival before, also got uncharacteristically fired up after receiving Mr.

Thinking about the meaning of "knowing when to hold back," and having sparred with Bakugo before and seen him fight others, Kirisame decided to invite Bakugo out to learn from him.

To Kirisame's request, Bakugo, who couldn't wait to up his hand-to-hand game so he could beat her a hundred times, readily agreed.

Thus, wearing each other out in the training room during every long break became their go-to activity.

Since their goals were different, the process was a bit tricky.

Kirisame was usually a quiet fighter, but in these sparring sessions, she seemed to be deliberately holding back, which made her talk more.

As a result, the training room often echoed with conversations that sounded a little off.

"Does it hurt here?"

"Hurt? You call that strength? That's pathetic!! Who do you think you're looking down on?!"

"I feel like I might have hit too hard just now... How's your back? If it hurts, I'll lighten up." (Worried)

"Go… go to hell!!" (Heavily panting)

Seeing Mineta almost daily using his Quirk to stick himself up by the ceiling to spy, one day Kaminari got curious and gave it a listen.

...And he never dared to come back again.

But despite his bad attitude, the spiky-haired guy was indeed resilient. After nearly two weeks of training, both Kirisame's touch in one-on-one combat and Bakugo's hand-to-hand skills and reaction speed had noticeably improved.

Sometimes, on weekends, they could even book a special venue and use their Quirks a bit to spar.

Under these circumstances, their relationship seemed to improve quickly.

One morning, Kirishima, sitting in his seat, watched Bakugo and Kirisame walk in one after another.

Two nights ago, Kirisame had been lying in bed, excited about the upcoming arrival of the Libra gang, and accidentally stayed up late, almost failing to get up in the morning.

Midoriya had been getting up early to train for the Sports Fest, so for the past few days, Kirisame had been going to school with Bakugo. Bakugo, having banged on the door forever with no answer, nearly blew the door off.

Kirisame, too sleepy to open her eyes, wobbled into the classroom behind him.

Kirishima turned to Bakugo and started chatting him up: "Hey Bakugo, how's your training going lately?"

The spiky-haired dude said flatly: "Enough to beat you."

"Oh, that sounds awesome!" Kirishima wasn't bothered at all.

The two started their usual bizarre banter.

Kirisame lay on her desk trying to nap. Half-asleep, she thought she heard her name, so she shifted her stool to the left and turned to look at them.

"?"

The girl was clearly still half-asleep; her golden eyes were all watery and dazed as she stared blankly.

Kirishima was about to explain, but before he could speak, he saw his buddy expertly pull a candy from his backpack, unwrap it in a couple of moves, and just as she turned to face them, stuff it into her mouth, then roughly shoved her face back with his palm.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep."

Kirisame naturally flopped back onto her desk following his motion.

Kirishima: "..."

Shoto Todoroki, who had just looked up from his back desk: "..."

Yuga Aoyama, who had been secretly watching: "..."

Weren't they trying to kill each other at the start of the semester? When the hell did they get this close?!

"Keeping candy in your backpack... doesn't feel very manly, bro..." Kirishima scratched his head.

"Shut up, you shitty hair!"

"Ugh..."