• Benevolence •

Chapter 16

One and a half match later, I found myself in the contestant prep room trying to find a suitable plan to beat Iida.

With his speed, it would be hard to pop and grab him since I doubt he'd be standing around. I finally just decided to try to completely avoid him until he tired out despite not knowing his limits. It was the only feasible plan.

Before long, I was standing back in the arena, the roar of the crowd surrounding me. Iida stood across from me, a stoic expression graced his features.

"And now we have Tenya Iida versus [Y/n] [L/n]! They both have quirks that help with mobility so it will be interesting to see how this works out!"

I took a deep breath and willed myself to relax. At the call to start, Iida immediately burst towards me. I popped away to the other side of the platform only to pop farther to the left as he headed after me again.

It quickly became a game of cat and mouse, me popping around wildly and Iida chasing after. My hearing grew fuzzier with each jump but I didn't need to hear to avoid him.

Far too soon, he must have noticed a pattern in my pops. As I popped over to avoid him, he anticipated my location and kicked out insanely fast with a loud cry.

I attempted to dodge and as Iida recorrected his aim, his foot connected to my temple. Pain seared through my skull and I was knocked across the platform, rolling to a stop just in front of the line.

Black dots danced across my vision as I pushed off the ground. Somehow I managed to get to my feet only for the earth to turn on its axis. I distantly felt myself hit the ground as the world around me faded away.

Drifting into consciousness, I slowly became aware of my surroundings. I could feel a small weight on the edge of the bed and I dragged my eyes open. A fluff of lavender rested beside me which I quickly identified as Shinso.

Soon the sound of footsteps echoed around the room. "Good, you're awake."

I looked up to see Recovery Girl enter the room. "You took quite a hit to the head. That combined with the stamina it took to heal up most of the concussion knocked you out for awhile."

She tutted before nodding to the sleeping teen. "This one arrived right after the award ceremony. It's been about half an hour since. You're free to go now that you're awake but be sure to take it easy as you still may have a minor concussion."

I nodded and mumbled a quiet thank you before turning back to the napping teen. I lightly ran my hand through his hair, almost surprised at how soft it was.

"Hey, wake up... Shinso?"

He grumbled quietly and I began to tap his head insistently. "Come on, I can leave now."

Raising his head, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. "You better not start to make this a thing. It's getting annoying to wait around for you."

I grinned teasingly, tossing my legs over the edge of the bed. "Aw, you were worried?"

Shinso rolled his eyes, "Well someone has to be and I don't see anyone else around."

As if summoned to prove him wrong, the door burst open and I turned to see Kirishima, Kaminari, and a very pissed off Bakugou standing in front of us.

The ashy blonde boy was being tugged along as he protested, "I couldn't give two shits about this dumbass!"

"Hey [L/n]! We wanted to come check in after you missed the award ceremony," Kirishima grinned blindingly before gesturing to the angry blonde on his left.

"Bakugou ended up winning first, just like he said!"

At his comment, the aggressive teen growled. "It doesn't fucking count if I don't recognize it," he grumbled, shaking Kirishima's hand off his arm.

Ignoring the glare burning into me, I gave Bakugou a soft smile. "Congratulations on keeping your promise."

He snarled in response, "Shut the fuck up, I don't give a shit about what you think."

Turning on his heel, he stalked out the room.

Shinso hummed, "He's really obnoxious."

Laughing at the comment, Kaminari turned to me, "Anyway, it's good to see you're okay! Iida was worried but he had to leave early."

I nodded before standing up. "Is school over?"

Kirishima jumped in, "Yeah, we just got released. Me, Kaminari, Bakugou, and Sero were gonna head to the arcade if you want to join us."

I shook my head and felt a pang in my chest as I saw the smile slip from the redhead's face for a second before reappearing as if it never left.

"That's okay. Maybe we can hang out another time?"

The two boys looked to me almost pleadingly.

With a smile, I agreed. "Yeah, definitely. I'm just supposed to take it easy for the day. Loud noises and flashing lights probably wouldn't be best."

The two energetic boys nodded, Kaminari flashing a grin before leaving with a 'see ya'.

Now left alone, I turned to my tired companion. "Ready to go?"

The lavender haired teen nodded, "Sure, I'll walk you home."

Soon we found ourselves strolling down the sidewalk in a comfortable silence.

The sun shone gently and a warm breeze ruffled my hair, tousling it lightly.

Upon reaching my house, Shinso gave my head a soft pat before muttering a 'bye,' heading back down the sidewalk.

When I got inside, I found the house to be empty as usual and sighed. I should be used to this by now.

I laid down on the couch, suddenly tired, and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

———
Not gonna lie, I had lots of trouble with this chapter. Dialogue involving more than two people is a little harder for me to write. I hope you guys enjoyed it regardless.
Thank you for reading so far!