From the Shadows || Katsuki Bakugou x OC

Chapter Eighty-five

"Well, it's definitely a start." Kyouka said, leaning against her desk.

We had all agreed to meet up in homeroom fifteen minutes before school started to tell our classmates Principal Nezu's decision. His offer provided some comfort among the class, but it didn't make us cheerful.

Mr. Aizawa stood at his podium, clacking away on his laptop, filling the silence.

"With Nezus donations and our money that's..." Izuku mumbled and counted on his fingers. "Around four point seven percent."

Toru chimed in, "Well, if we've made just under five percent in what... two days, and we're about to reach everyone in our school, I'd say we have a pretty good shot."

"Assuming anybody does donate..." Sero said. We stood in solemn agreement.

"Hey listen," Mina elbowed Sero, "This is just the beginning of our mission." She put herself in the middle of the class. "We still have plenty of time to help him, we got this!" She exclaimed. We were trying to keep our heads high, but given the circumstances I could tell there were doubts.

Ochako jumped in with Mina, "Mina's right guys," she tried to lift her arm, forgetting her shoulder is in an immobilizer, "ow..." She whispered. "We've overcome impossible things before; Saving Eri from Overhaul, beating the League of Villians, and so much more!"

"We're not just strong, Ei is too!" Mina said, "We can't give up on him, and we can't give up on the people in our school!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. Aizawa look up from his laptop and smile. He cleared his throat, "Alright kids, the bell will ring shortly, please find your seats."

We all settled in to our seats and started class. All the other teachers in the school were sent the video we made and asked to play it for their homerooms. We're not doing very much today, just basic classics and some muscle strength training.

Since some of us are still injured we're holding off on more intense hero training. Since I still can't move my pinky finger and Ochako can't move her shoulder we're working on leg and core strength together.

Sometime in the morning Itsuka, Kinoko, and Ibara came up to us to say how sorry they are about Kiri and that they each donated some money. Ibara told us she would be praying for all the donations we need and a swift recovery. I thanked them and continued with my day. A few underclass came up to Tenya, Tsu, and I and told them they say the video and that they were moved and donated what they could.

It's nice to see that strangers are trying to help Kiri. It might help that Kiri has made a bit of a name for himself as Red Riot, but anything helps.

Finally it was lunchtime. I sat with Tsu, Tenya, and Hitoshi. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Monoma walking in our direction. He was a complete asshole our first year here. He still kinda is, he's better now... however, if he's coming over to say something about Kiri being weak then I'm getting arrested for murder. Let's hope he's just going to pass by.

"Class rep of 3A, what a pleasure." Monoma bowed his head slightly, he seemed a bit sarcastic.

"Monoma, is there something you need?"

He nodded, "Yes, I'm here to talk to you about Kirishima." He grabbed a chair, faced it away from the table, and sat with his legs around the back of the chair.

Hitoshi slightly rolled his eyes, probably expecting something stupid to come out of Monoma's mouth. I think we're all thinking that.

"I'm sure you know already, but I saw the video." Where is he going with this? "I knew there was an attack on some of you 3A students... but I had no idea it was that bad."

He paused, looking down at the table. "Now, I know I've never been the nicest to your class, and he wasn't particularly my favorite person, but I can't let my rivals just die." His voice seems genuine so far, "So I donated a hundred dollars and got my parents to donate an additional two hundred."

Our jaws dropped, I would've never expected this from him. Of course, I haven't interacted with Monoma lately, but I guess he really cares about peoples well being.

"In addition to that... I rallied up a couple people to donate and try and spread the word."

Still in disbelief I spoke up, "Wow Monoma, I- thank you."

"Yeah, thanks. I didn't think you could be so genuine." Tsu added.

Monoma stood up, "It's the least I could do." He turned to walk away but stopped, "And when he gets the surgeries, let Kirishima know he owes me a battle once he's healed up."

I smiled slightly, "You sure you can take him?"

Monoma returned a smirk, "Of course I can." And finally walked away.

"You know, he's really not that bad of a guy anymore." Hitoshi said. "He actually asked me to make sure I donate since I'm so close to some of you guys."

"Speaking of," Tenya chimed in, "I was going to check on our donation progress during lunch." He started pulling his phone from his backpack.

"How much do you think we've raised so far?" I asked.

Tsu looked thoughtful, "Hmm, based on how much our class donated, and assuming about a quarter of the school donated by lunch... I'd say 5,000 at most."

We looked at Tenya expectantly.

"Give me a minute, it's still loading." He took a sip of water, and almost immediately spit it back out. "HOLY SHIT!"

That took us by surprise, he never swears. A couple tables near us looked in our direction. Tenya coughed and cleared his throat, "Sorry about that." He laughed nervously.

I leaned forward and whispered screamed at him, "Well was that a good 'holy shit' or not?!?"

"We're at $19,000..."

"Seriously!?!"

"Well, more exactly $18,924, but that's still way more than I thought we'd have." Tenya seems to almost be in shock.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We have to tell the rest of our class!!" I stood up to go find our classmates.

"Keiko wait," Tenya gently grabbed my shoulder, "Before you run off, just sit for a minute."

I sat back down, "But... this is good news, they should know."

"While that is true, I think we should wait till class so we can tell everyone at once."

So we finished eating our lunch and waited for the bell to ring. We are our way back to class and once everyone was there we told them the good news. There was quite a bit of hugging and tear shed. We still have a quite a way to go, but we can at least breath knowing our school has our backs.