Technical Support

Chapter 4

Midoriya and Ayano walked out of the school in silence. Midoriya was clearly upset about what happened, and Ayano just tinkered with her 'modified joy buzzer.' They passed by where his notebook was thrown.

As he was picking it up from the water, she could hear his angry mumbling. "Idiot! If I really jumped, you'd be charged with bullying me into suicide! Think before you speak!" Ayano's eye slightly twitched.

"Do you not think it's a bit weird to be concerned about a boy who basically just told you to commit suicide?" She asked him in disbelief. Midoriya continued waving the notebook back and forth to try drying it as much as he could.

He responded, "Kacchan is trying to get into U.A. and become a hero. He'd be a great one if he would just stop and think about his actions!" Ayano sighed at him. His admiration of heroes and all things related to heroics knew no bounds.

"So, you really meant what you said before?" She raised an eyebrow at him. He returned her look with a face full of confusion. He had no idea which part she was referring to. She elaborated, "You said you have no intention of competing with Bakugou at U.A. You truly mean that?"

"Of course, I do! I don't want to compete with him, I just want to try the entrance exam and become a hero..." He trailed off.

Ayano shook her head in disappointment and continued walking. "Can someone really become a hero without looking at what's in front of them..." She mumbled. "Aya-chan?" Midoriya asked but the girl chose not to answer.

Midoriya kept looking at the girl, trying to figure out if he should really ask this. He resolved himself and went with it. "Aya-chan, aren't you also concerned about Kacchan?" She answered without hesitation, "Of course. If he keeps up this aggressive attitude, he'll get himself killed in no time. I would lose an excellent specimen, beta tester, and even a future client."

Her last words confirmed the boy's suspicions. She did think that Bakugou could become a hero, so she must have had concerns about him in ways past her own supposedly selfish ones. "I'm right then! You also admire him! And I think you're concerned about him as a friend too, even if you don't consider yourselves friends."

She gave him a deadpan look. "What makes you say that?" Midoriya grew uneasy at her unwavering gaze. "W-Well, when we were kids, you and Kacchan were always close..." He glanced at her and her stare prompted him to explain.

"You were the only girl that Kacchan would even go near!" Ayano scoffed. "I should think that a more apt observation would be that I was the only girl that could even stand him."

Midoriya flinched at her fast dismissal of the notion. "M-Maybe so...But...But you looked like you both enjoyed each other's company!" Ayano stopped walking.

Midoriya continued, "Kacchan would always boast about becoming the number one hero someday and you would always say that your inventions would help him get there. He'd always deny it, saying he didn't need anybody's help, but he never refused to test out any of your homemade weapons..."

He stared into Ayano's eyes. "If anything, you guys always looked so happy, working together to achieve a dream!" There was a sparkle in the boy's eyes, reminiscing about the times that all three of them had been friends – before Bakugou's quirk had manifested and before he gained a twisted superiority complex.

The brown-haired girl only continued to stare at him, giving no other movement to indicate that she acknowledged his insinuations. She could clearly remember the times that he was referring to.

"Wow! Kacchan, you're so good at the monkey bars!" Young Midoriya exclaimed. Young Bakugou smirked and pointed at himself in the chest with his thumb. "Of course, I am! I'm gonna be a hero, so I should at least be able to do that. You can't even go one lap on them!" The boy ridiculed him.