Latibule

30 - ʀᴀᴄɪɴɢ

Previously on Latibule:

"Forget what I said," he let out, pulling himself up and straightening his back as he let a frown litter his brows again. "It's nothing."

I smiled softly, a bit sad that he regretted saying something that, for some reason, seemed to mean so much to me. "I care about you, too, Katsuki," I said, almost in a whisper before I turned back around, facing the front of the classroom once again.

At first I feared he hadn't heard me but from the way the air shifted from a regretful dense to a relieved light, I could tell that he did.

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Latibule — Chapter 30///Racing

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Soon after my conversation with Bakugou, we'd been informed that our Hero Basic Training lesson of the day was to take place at one of the school's many training facilities.

"We're going to conduct a little race," All Might spoke, introducing our task. "Take everything you've learned in your internships and conduct it into this rescue training."

I sweat-dropped at the command. I'd missed most of the internship due to my injuries and even now I wasn't able to use my full power without risking reopening any wounds. Still, I recalled a piece of advice from the very first day of our internships.

"Now, when you release it, try not to let it go all at once because otherwise you won't be able to recover quickly enough."

Bearing that in mind when it came to releasing energy, I continued listening to All Might.

"You're about to step into Field Gamma!" he declared, his eyes shadowed by the way his face crinkled up due to his ever-lasting smile. "Inside is a labyrinth of factories so good luck in finding your way around.

You'll be competing in groups of five and each person starts in a different place on the outskirts of the model city. I'll send a distress signal and you do what you must to rescue me. Whoever finds me first wins!" The top hero drooped a bit. "But try to keep the property damage to a bare minimum, please." His lifted finger lowered to point at Bakugou.

"Why are you pointing at me?" the boy growled.

I stifled a laugh. The answer to the question was obvious and behind the blond's facade of anger, I could sense a bit of embarrassment. I also noticed that he looked away from everyone to hide his true feelings even though his frowning face would've convinced many of his anger.

"Alright, first group, get to your places!"

We all started moving, the first competitors — Midoriya, Iida, Ojiro, Sero and Mina — splitting up from us as we went to the speculation platform.

"Iida hasn't completely recovered yet, right?" Kaminari asked Kirishima who was standing near him, as per usual. "He should sit this out."

"Everyone in this group has incredible mobility," Kirishima observed, pretty much ignoring Kaminari's comment.

A few paces ahead of Kirishima, Yaoyorozu's ponytail swayed, as if she was tilting her head to the beat of her words, but I was too far away to hear her conversation with Jirou. And considering that eavesdropping wasn't polite anyway, I decided I wouldn't even try to hear what they were talking about.

I leaned a bit towards Bakugou, wanting to talk about something but deciding against it after realizing I didn't have a topic to talk about.

Still, I didn't have to worry about the silence as Bakugou's voice floated through me through the air, low enough for nobody else to hear. "How are you feeling? Your injuries, I mean."