Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Though they said they came to see Kirisame, the boss and the others had their own things to do. During the day, while Kirisame was at school, they went out, and when she returned in the evening, she sometimes had to wait for them. Except for occasionally needing to cast an illusion to change their appearance, they rarely had time to sync up.

After Midoriya saw his little friend interact with Mr. Klaus once, he understood why no matter how many times he recommended his beloved All Might videos to her, she remained unmoved.

For himself, it was All Might; for Iida, it was Ingenium; for Kirisame, it was Mr. Klaus, the boy thought.

Even though he was always busy and on the go, the boss still managed to get tickets to the Sports Festival.

On that morning, Katsuki Bakugo, for once properly wearing his uniform, rang Kirisame's doorbell.

...He hadn't walked to school with her for a few days. If this girl dared to sleep in on the day of the Sports Festival...

The boy cracked his knuckles and flashed a cheerful grin that showed his gums: "I'll blast her damn door off!"

"Huh? Who the hell are you?"

"..."

The door swung open with a bang, revealing a disheveled, half-dressed, sleepy-eyed brown-skinned man.

???

"Huh? Isn't this Aizawa Kirisame's house?!"

"Yeah," Zapp nodded, then as if suddenly remembering something, his expression turned sly: "You don't look as innocent as that green-haired kid. Could it be..."

Bakugo was like a flashlight—he only shone on others, not himself. He found this nutjob utterly baffling, ranting without saying his relationship with Aizawa, and his tone was infuriating. Just as he decided to ignore him and make a phone call, a white object flashed and smacked the man on the back of his head, sending him lurching forward.

The afro boy instinctively stepped back and watched as the man, following the momentum, did a swift backward somersault to catch the object.

Only then did he see what it was—a plate.

...So fast! Both the speed of the plate flying over and that psycho's reaction time were incredible!

The silver-haired man cursed, grabbed the plate, and was about to hurl it back along its trajectory. But when he looked up and saw who had thrown it, he instantly smiled and respectfully handed the plate back with both hands.

...And he chickened out just as fast.

Kirisame came running out from the back: "Yo, Bakugo? Walking to school together today?"

Bakugo didn't ask who those people were, just let out a snort: "If you don't hurry up, you'll be late."

Kirisame nodded, automatically translating that as "there's still plenty of time," and pulled him inside: "This is Mr. Klaus, and this is Zapp and Leo."

After brief introductions, three pairs of eyes fixed on Bakugo.

His prized battle instincts told him that aside from the squinty-eyed one, the other two were very strong.

—Especially the red-haired man. This was the first time he had seen someone with a presence comparable to All Might.

For once, Kirisame had family other than Teacher Aizawa visiting, and the afro boy actually felt a bit of rare awkwardness under their stares.

"...I'm this girl's classmate, Katsuki Bakugo. I came to get her for school this morning." The afro boy subtly adjusted his pants.

Kirisame looked up, surprised.

"What are you looking at?!" The boy felt awkward with her staring.

The little girl waved her hand: "Nothing. Just thought you were in an especially good mood today..."

Especially since he had even carefully tied his tie this morning—for a moment, he almost looked well-behaved.

Since the adults were there, the boy's "Go die" stuck in his throat, finally turning into a gritted-teeth: "Good for you."

Kirisame blinked in confusion. Leo felt like he was dying of laughter.

Kirisame had already left. The boss recalled the scene of the two kids bickering and felt a bit amused. Zapp remembered the infuriating look on one of them and regretted not punching him out before introducing himself, hopping in frustration.

Walking to school, Kirisame explained to Bakugo about her family.

Bakugo was still thinking about what that guy Zapp had said.

Green hair... Compared to him, she had told Deku first.

This question wasn't even worth caring about.

...But somehow, it annoyed him.

The afro boy felt utterly ridiculous, shoving his hands into his pockets in irritation, walking faster. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl trotting to catch up with him, and that made him feel a bit better.

"Since your family is here to watch, you'd better take the Sports Festival seriously." The boy grinned, baring his teeth: "I'm waiting to beat you myself, got it? If you dare lose to someone else before that..."

Kirisame blinked, not quite understanding her friend's quirk.

Bakugo got annoyed at the sight of her: "Even now, you still have that carefree, indifferent attitude!?"

Kirisame was stunned.

"I've thought it was strange from the start. You fight really dirty, but you have no 'fire' when you fight. I used to think it was because you looked down on everyone, but now," his ruby-colored eyes narrowed, "you don't even know why you're fighting, or why you want to win, do you?"

He stared at the traffic light ahead without looking at Kirisame: "I don't know who you really are, or what you think of the Sports Festival. But every opponent in front of you stands there with a firm resolve to win. If you keep that clueless, lame mindset, you won't beat anyone."

Kirisame took some time to process what he said, then asked him a question that seemed unrelated:

"Is that why you're always picking on me?"

Katsuki Bakugo was momentarily startled.

—He almost blurted out, "Who's picking on you?!"

The boy managed to hold it in, he just snorted, without speaking.

"Don't worry," the girl glanced at his profile and pursed her lips into a smile. Her golden eyes finally showed a hint of aggression: "I still don't know exactly why I want to win, but right now, I don't want to lose."

The person beside her, who yelled "I'm gonna win!" with confidence no matter how disadvantaged he was, looked dazzling. In the staff room that day, the number one hero, coughing up blood, held up a peace sign and told her not to worry—that was reliable. Mr. Klaus's gentle smile and head pat were warm. The last time they flew, He Wan, while saying he wanted to scare her, held her hand tightly—that was warm.

She wanted to hold onto them, to catch up, so she couldn't lose.

...That's more like it.

"Walk faster, Aizawa." The boy paused, waiting for her to catch up.

"Hey, why do you keep calling me Aizawa?"

"Huh? Isn't your name Aizawa?!"

"Everyone calls me Kirisame."

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE LIKE THEM?!"

"...Oh."

"YOU'RE SO ANNOYING!!"

While waiting backstage, Kirisame received her second challenge letter of the day.

...Though she felt it was probably just a side note to someone challenging Midoriya.

The ice user behind her, always arrogant in a low-key way, had for the first time openly expressed his hostility in class. Kirisame saw the same intense emotion in his beautifully mismatched eyes as she had during the Hero Basic Training.

Compared to the explosive boy's threatening challenge style, the pretty boy behind her was much more polite. The girl calmly accepted his challenge.

"Sure." Unlike her fellow challenged classmate Midoriya, Kirisame nodded almost immediately. Kirishima, who was worried about class relations, hadn't even had a chance to speak.

...Her speed and good attitude were so swift that Shoto Todoroki choked on his words.

Bakugo looked at that half-and-half guy, who couldn't even tell who his opponent was, with his cold expression frozen on his face, momentarily stunned. Bakugo's mood suddenly improved.

Everyone, who had already changed into their gym uniforms, was nervous. So Aoyama brought up a topic that made them even more tense.

For most students who had been glued to their TVs every year since elementary school to watch the U.A. Sports Festival, while the obstacles changed annually, the final one-on-one matches were a fixed event.

"If you make it to the finals, everyone, who do you hope your opponent will be~~" Aoyama struck a pose, thrusting his hips and chest, arms crossed behind his head.

"IS! WHO!???"

Iida was obviously tense: "A-Aoyama! D-Don't say things that break our unity before the battle!"

The glasses-wearing class president's hand formed a standard traffic cop hand signal, waving wildly in the air, then hesitantly lowered:

"...I hope it's Midoriya." He whispered.

"EH?!" This was Midoriya, who had just unexpectedly received his second challenge letter.

"...You used the word 'before the battle,' Iida! Wake up!" This was Uraraka, who was also somehow panicking.

"...If you think it breaks unity, then don't say who you hope it is, man!" Kaminari's expression was wry.

"Heh."

...That was Tokoyami, sitting on the table.

The atmosphere suddenly became humorous.

Except for the unreadable Shoto Todoroki and the snarling, caged beast-like Bakugo, no one could resist such a topic. The rest area instantly buzzed with chatter. Aoyama, who'd thrown out the topic, waited left and right but no one asked him, and he felt awful.

But everyone knew that if anyone honestly went to ask him, they'd probably get another twisty, ambiguous, mischievous "You guess~~" response. After being tricked that way twice, even Ojiro wasn't willing to bite that hook.

"Yaoyorozu! Yaoyorozu!" Mineta, who had just spoken excitedly, was silenced by Jiro's earphone jack jab. The surrounding male and female classmates all took a step away from him. No one believed he had any serious reason.

Feeling the hot stare of the explosive boy behind her, Kirisame seriously answered Midoriya's question: "I want to fight Tokoyami."

...The moment the words left her mouth, Kirisame felt her back was on fire.

But she held up under the pressure, insisting on her view in the equally puzzled eyes of her fellow classmate Midoriya: "I want to fight Tokoyami."

So now it was Tokoyami's turn to feel the pressure. The crow-headed boy, feeling a stare from halfway between ice and fire and an angel, was quite calm. Dark Shadow made a "bring it on" gesture: "Then I'll be waiting for you."

...So none of you noticed her sentence structure! The only one who realized the truth, Mineta, hugged himself and shuddered.

Women are terrifying!

The equally aware Asui ribbited once and patted Kirisame's head.

...Was it because little Kirisame had been hanging around Bakugo too much lately?

Though he didn't know he was taking the blame again, Bakugo, who was irritated just by instinct, jumped up and left.

It wasn't until the first round began that Kirisame realized how grudge-holding her classmate was.

Ice followed the two-toned hair boy's raised hand, surging like a high tide up the giant robot's legs. Kirisame, who had once broken her arm fighting that robot, felt like she was about to cry miserably.

From the stands, Zapp watched Kirisame scurrying away cowardly through the gaps in the robot's steps, then looked at the other person's majestic display of freezing the whole thing with a wave. He turned away in disdain.

Fellow students with Engine Quirks, like Iida, were also slipping through the gaps using acceleration skating. The two were about the same speed and could even exchange a few words.

"K-Kirisame-san," the wind made Iida's voice come in fragments. "C-Can't you fly?"

Iida didn't expect a proper answer to this question, since when and how to use one's abilities were extremely private matters.

But to his surprise, the girl simply turned around and pointed upward.

A blast crashed between them, perfectly aimed—enough that it didn't actually hurt them but had enough force to separate them by a distance.

"You bastards are way too relaxed!" Bakugo, who had blasted them in the face without even looking back, flew away using the momentum, not forgetting to taunt them.

...See, even walking on the ground was like this. If she were in the air with that He Wan guy, being targeted by him...

Kirisame, who seriously wanted to win, shrugged at Iida to let him get the hint.

Iida: Suddenly felt sympathy.