The Emperor's Dragon

Seeing Red

Izuku ate his lunch at his desk. He was alone today and while he knew it was only going to be for one day, he missed his friends. Ochaco had something on for her family. She'd been apologetic but not clear and Hitoshi had a summer sniffle and was tucked up in bed at home.

It was only for a day, so he told himself he shouldn't be lonely. He could handle one day.

Surreptitiously he pulled out his phone. Even though he was ten, they were still not allowed to use them at school. Even so, he could see that Kawaguchi was playing a game on hers. He tapped into messages and went to Himiko's chat.

Why was the red blood cell banned from church? He sent the question to her.

He hoped she had her phone. Niigata Elementary had a slightly different policy. Students were allowed to use their phones in the breaks but Himiko didn't always have hers with her.

He watched the chat for a few moments, waiting for a reply. They'd worked out a system with jokes. You didn't deliver the punch line until the other person had replied.

Izuku sighed, taking another bite from his bento. It appeared today was one of those days Himiko didn't have her phone. He sighed and slipped his phone back into his bag.

He ate the last few pickles left in his bento and put the lid back on as well. Izuku was tying the furoshiki back when he heard a couple of the other students get up from their lunch. He thought nothing of it until someone blocked the light.

They didn't move. "The sympathiser is all alone today."

Izuku recognised the voice. Gatarui. He looked up at the spider quirked boy with a sense of dread and resignation. He knew how these encounters went. He'd experienced that in Niigata and Saitama. He wasn't interested in having it happen again. "May I help you, Kumou?" he asked politely.

That seemed to surprise them for a moment, Gatarui's face clouded, though it was difficult to see with his mutation. Then the spider quirked boy slammed his hands on Izuku's desk. The grey haired (today's colour) boy noted absently that Kumou's mutation had extended to his hands. They were a dark colour, almost as if chitin was forming on them. Izuku was sure they hadn't been like that a few years back.

"Don't act so high and mighty," Gatarui demanded.

"I'm not, Kumou," Izuku objected.

"You are," Arata spat. The other boy was standing to the side of Gatarui.

He knew how this was going to play out. "I'm sitting eating lunch," Izuku commented, tucking his covered bento box back under his desk. It was best to get it away before they decided to steal or break it.

"Sitting, thinking of new ways to sympathise!" Gatarui growled.

If Ochaco or Hitoshi was here, Izuku knew the other two boys wouldn't be here. They must have been waiting for an opportunity. Had they confronted Ochaco last year, when he wasn't here?

"Yeah, but he's weak, just like his little friend," Arata told Gatarui.

That answered Izuku's question. What had Ochaco gone through? "What do you want?" he asked, holding back a snarl.

"Oh, the sympathiser has some spirit!" Gatarui laughed. "And I bet you want to prove something, so come on. You and me, after school."

"What?" Izuku didn't get it.

"Fight me," the spider quirked boy said. "After school today. Unless you're so powerless all you do is whine?" Gatarui laughed.

"Yeah, like Uraraka!" Arata chuckled.