To Hold the Stars || BAKUGO KATSUKI

Hero Basic Rescue Training

"I still can't believe what happened yesterday," Tae said as she sat down with her lunch tray, joining Nomi, Sanda, and Senzo. She closed her blue-green eyes and shuddered. "I was so freaked out! And to think it was just the press..."

"I just can't believe they actually got in," Senzo said, his mouth full of rice. Sanda wrinkled her nose across from him. "U.A. has a tight security system. Must've been one of their Quirks or something."

Nomi kept silent as her friends began debating various Quirks that could've taken out the U.A. barrier, shoveling her beef and rice into her mouth at an alarming pace in case she was asked something. Principal Nezu's cheery warning to not tell anyone what she saw the day before still sat in her mind, and she would obey. Not only because she didn't know what to make of it herself, but also because she knew the rumors of the principal's occasional anti-human inclinations, and she wasn't keen on incurring his potential wrath.

"Hey, Nomi," Tae said, and Nomi looked up, chewing quickly. Tae only gazed at her with concern. "Did you leave early yesterday or something? We couldn't find you after school."

Nomi nodded, relieved, and swallowed her large bite painfully. "Yeah, I did. I, uh, didn't feel so great."

After scaring the wits out of some poor kid, she added silently, bitter.

As if she could read her thoughts, Tae said, "It wasn't your fault. Everyone was panicking. Accidents were bound to happen."

Nomi shifted her gaze to the window behind them. It overlooked the campus and the city, and beyond that, the ocean dazzled in the bright afternoon sunlight. She frowned.

"Accidents are like spilling a glass of water," she said. "Scarring someone for life isn't exactly the same thing."

Sanda huffed and set down her drink. "There you go, Katsuragi, being all dramatic again."

Nomi wrenched her head around to glare at the emerald-haired girl. "I don't remember asking for your input, Sanda."

Senzo raised his hands. "Let's not be hostile, ladies."

Nomi got to her feet, practically baring her teeth at Sanda, who only gazed back, indifferent and a little smug.

"She's the one who always has a problem with me," Nomi said, jabbing her finger. "Tell that to her."

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed her things and abandoned the rest of her lunch, ignoring Tae and Senzo's half-hearted pleas for her to come back as she stalked out of the cafeteria.

She shook her head in frustration. How typical, she thought, that Tae and Senzo chose Sanda's side over hers, again and again. She knew they were all childhood friends, but wasn't she their friend, too? Yet they never did anything about Sanda's constant belittlement and antagonization toward her. All they did was try to placate without ever actually stepping in. Nomi could hold her own well enough against the likes of Sanda, but it would be nice if she didn't have to do it alone all the time.

She was one of the first to return to the classroom, and she slunk to her desk at the back of the room, bypassing Yuga Aoyama as he finished his lunch of what looked like veal and cheese. She didn't even bother looking twice. 1-A was just like that.

She spent the next fifteen minutes of their lunch period doing what could best be described as sulking. She'd calmed down after leaving the cafeteria, but she hoped Aizawa had some sort of training for her that day that would take her mind off Sanda and her infuriating smirk.