Chapter 61

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Katsuki immediately noticed that he was leaning on her injury and moved away. Footsteps echoed through the room. Kaede closed her eyes, but she did not recognise the aura. It was not a teacher. She saw pairs of shoes next to the table. But they were not those of older people.... Kaede held her breath and rolled away. Actually, she only wanted to take a quick look, but someone grabbed her and pulled her up. "Isn't that the girl?" She looked into the faces of 6 third graders. Katsuki jumped out from under the table and yanked kaede out of the boy's grip. "Wait Katsuki, they are students!" Excited, she looked at the other intruders. "How did you make it through the door? I've tried to trick the system for years but never managed." "We dodged." "Dodged? That's impossible!" "Well, not for us. How did you get in here?" "Air shafts." "Ingenious." "What are you doing here? We're playing a trick on Midnight." Kaede exchanged a glance with Bakugo. "We don't want to talk about it." The third graders smiled. "Let me guess. You guys are 1A? The 1A that's always causing trouble?" Before Katsuki could shout at him, the student continued. "You know, in our 3A, you're called the 1A who causes fun. If only my school days had been so adventurous. Now I'm graduating and the most exciting thing so far is our secret war against Midnight."

"Those guys were fucking exhausting." Kaede laughed as she scrambled behind Katsuki. "You're just saying that because you don't like them. Do you see competition in them too?" "I don't have any competition, I'll be number one hero and be done with it." "So you don't see me as competition?" "Do you want to become a hero?" He asked a counter question. "I want to help." "If you help, you're a hero." "But what kind of hero? I don't want to be a hero under the Hero Commission. I want to help. As soon as it becomes more, I don't want it." "I think I'm too tired to understand." She agreed with him. She didn't say she didn't understand it herself either. "Wrong way, we have to go right." "You could have said that earlier! Shit." "I said I should go first."

They were sitting together in Kaede's room, thinking about Denki, when Katsuki changed the subject. "Your Quirk didn't work when you rolled out from under the table. Was it because of your injury?" "Oh." she considered. "I didn't notice at all. I don't know. Anyway, I think we should talk to Denki before we report it to Aizawa-" "Don't change the subject now, tell me where the injury came from if everything was still fine at dinner." "I'm not in a position to tell you anything Katsuki. I'll talk to the others tomorrow, then to Denki, then to Aizawa and then-" "Stop deflecting all the time! You're getting on my fucking nerves with your constant-" "Then go! I'm not making you sit here and-" He pushed her down on the bed so that she was lying under him. He came dangerously close to her. "Why should I leave when I want answers? Take your time, I can wait, but give me the answer I want." He stared intently into her eyes, his face hovering over hers. "I'm not going to give you any answers." "You have no choice, we can lie like this all night. That being said, we should start letting ourselves talk." She looked into his eyes for a moment longer than necessary. She felt his body on hers, his hands on her arms and his breath on her neck before she twisted her leg so she could throw him off her. "I thought you were going to stay in bed Bakugo?" He narrowed his eyes. "I'll only tell you once Katsuki, don't you dare refuse my plea while I'm still nice: Get out of my room." "Why did you hesitate?" "What are you talking about?" "You could have thrown me off you from the start, so why did you hesitate?" "I wanted to give you the opportunity to surrender painlessly." "I don't think so, and you know it's not true either." Without another word he left the room. "Why does he speak in riddles?" She plucked her pillow from the bed and threw it against the wall. "Why is that fucking idiot talking in riddles?!" Her breathing quickened again. She hated when it happened because she had no control over it. And the more she frantically tried to regain control, the worse it got. She crawled to the door where the pillow had landed and leaned against it as her head disappeared into the pillow. "Why do I feel so..." She had no words for it. It felt weird, like her body was jello. She didn't want to. The way everything had turned out, she didn't want it.

Katsuki was still standing on the other side of the door. He heard her silently screaming into her pillow. He listened as her muffled shrieks turned into quiet sobs. Then suddenly everything was silent. She had not moved from the door, but neither did she make a sound. Was she all right? Katsuki wanted to go back inside. He wanted to go to her, to take her in his arms, to apologise, but he did not. Frozen, he listened to the silence. As much as he wished her sobs would stop, he found this uncertain silence even more unbearable. It was a peaceful silence. But Katsuki knew very well that Kaede would not experience a peaceful silence if she still only knew war.

...

They were once again in hero training. It was adventurous, but Aizawa's training methods were meant to toughen them up. Compared to that, the tinitus they got from Present Mic in English class was child's play. The others had already split up into buildings to complete the task, while Eijiro, Kaede, Denki and Mina still stood around undecided. "Why weren't we assigned?" "We'll discuss that at the end. You guys think about strategies and who will win out of the groups." "Katsuki and Rikido against Yuga and Koji? Definitely Team Kats." The others agreed. "And why is that, Kirishima? You don't win because of your strength, but because of the way you use it." Nervously, he looked at his friends for help until Kaede answered for him. "Koji and Yuga are a mismatched team. They are rather reserved in Quirks and also rather... in Combat. well. Katsuki and Rikido's Quirk has too strong an attack power for them to fend off." "The answer does not satisfy me." "Well, I thought it was a good answer," Denki interjected. "In a real fight, will you also stand there and say, I can't win against them? Think of a strategy for Aoyama and Sato to win. I'll go to the surveillance, you wait here." They looked at each other. "Yeah guys, let's get going I'd say!" "We have to remember that Yuga has a time limit and Koji needs animals." "Katsuki will probably charge at them head on." "Maybe they can use the building, depending on the material..." Kaede looked towards the building where Katsuki's fight was taking place. "Let's find out." She walked closer to the building. "Kaede, you shouldn't get so close, it could be dangerous." "Oh, nothing will happen out here." Eijiro followed her as he saw her feeling the wall. "Solid brick, I don't think anything will-" A blue beam of light shot out and drew a long line through the building. The building vibrated, but Kaede only stared upwards, where the upper part of the roof was coming loose. She heard Mina scream, but her gaze was glued to the roof. It was too wide to dodge, the most she could do was.... She was pressed against the wall. "Watch out." Eijiro pressed against her and hardened. His arm was above her head against the wall while the other covered her side. He breathed on her hairline. She clearly felt the breeze, for in the moment before the boulders crashed down on Eijiro, time was as if dead. Eijiro sank to his knees under the weight, Kaede under him. His expression was torn, the strain clearly readable from his face. Kaede pulled his forehead closer. "Thank you Eijiro." Her lips touched his forehead ever so gently. She breathed something into him, more strength. But he felt it too. When Kaede gave strength, the other felt her emotions, so she only did it in an emergency. And this was an emergency. Eijiro sensed, he knew, that Kaede was blaming herself for Eijiro getting the rocks off. She didn't understand that he was happy to save her. That he too would give anything for his friends. He knew other things now too. Things she perhaps did not want to admit herself. He knew why she had not dodged. Kaede emitted a reassuring but faint light, while a sign glowed on Eijiro's forehead. He felt strong, as if he could carry these rocks for an eternity. No new pressure was added, the rocks stayed put and did not move as he lay on all fours over Kaede, the weight of an entire world on his back. "Let's hope they dig us out quickly." Kaede fainted. She had apparently given him too much of her strength.

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