Canary

Chapter 35: The Fight for Freedom

Fifteen days since the kidnapping

"We all need to talk."

That was Yaoyorozu, her arms folded as she pouted at her class. Everyone was in the common room at that moment, which was most likely why she had chosen then to begin whatever she was on about.

"About what?" was Asui's reply.

Shinso just sighed and sunk further into his seat, staring at Siren in her nest. He had a bad feeling that, whatever it was, it involved him. It usually did.

Their vice-representative hesitated for a moment. Maybe it was because she had just assumed everyone had already guessed what she meant. Maybe it was because she was thinking through how to start this.

"...Canary."

Jiro pulled off her headphones immediately. Uraraka peered over the back of the sofa she had claimed, already decked out in her pyjamas. Iida did the same, as he had been trying and failing to explain the maths homework that Mr Ectoplasm had set them a few days ago. The only one remaining was Todoroki, who had just sat down in the chair next to Shinso, a cup of coffee in hand as he slid a much stronger one over to Shinso – he would need it to get through this.

Someone else to note, was Bakugo, who got up from his isolated seat in the corner of the room and began to walk towards the stairs up to his room.

"Bakugo – you need to stay here for this," Yaoyorozu said seriously, giving him a look as he passed her by.

He faltered and sighed loudly, before turning around and flopping back down in the nearest available chair, one earphone hanging out as he pressed pause on whatever he was listening to on his phone.

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat, clearly a little nervous about the confrontation. "Look, it's been over two weeks now since the kidnapping and... a-and, well – we need to sort out our friendships!"

Shinso groaned and Yaoyorozu glared daggers at him.

"You're absolutely right!" Iida said eagerly, getting to his feet and pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. His enthusiasm died quickly as he continued, "A lot of troubling events have occurred over the last two weeks, and it has severely affected the wellbeing of a lot of you, including myself, I admit. However, right now, there is nothing we can do to change the situation. What happened is, unfortunately, behind us, and all we can do is move on."

"R-Right," Yaoyorozu stammered, wandering slowly over to a cupboard that Shinso had seen her routing around in the day before, after he'd come back from the radio station with Jiro.

That hadn't been a good night. The show ended on the last note of Jiro's song, but she and Shinso stayed behind for a good hour. Iida had been right, mentally, they were not ok. Shinso had experienced his fair share of mental strife, but this had hit him more than he ever thought it could. He was most certainly not alone in that sense.

"So, I thought that, in the meantime, maybe we could set aside a few evenings like this to sort things out!" she suggested eagerly, bending down to route through that cupboard. "And I thought that maybe we could start with..." She turned around with a brilliant smile on her face, "board games!"

"Kill me now," Shinso groaned quietly as he took a swig of his coffee.

Todoroki smirked.

"I-I've never done them before," she continued, "but I thought it would a great way to spend some time together!"

Bakugo stood up again in another attempt to leave.

"And you're not allowed to skip it!" she snapped coldly.