Rev it Up

The Truth Revealed

There were very few people in the world who Bakugou felt he could ask for advice. Saki was one of these people.
She always acted (and looked) like she was around his age, but she was wise beyond any year Bakugou had reached. She knew the roads, the city, the people in town, and she knew how Bakugou worked.
She was also really good at freestyle Rap, which, despite not being his thing, was admirable to him. Especially when she was using it to roast the hell out of her opponents.
So, it was Saki who he called that day, wanting to finally understand what was happening to him.
A man's voice answered the phone, sounding professional, yet nervous. "Fran Chou Chou, Kotarō speaking."
Fran Chou Chou was supposed to be the name of Saki's stupid Idol group, so Kotarō must be their manager.
"Uh...is Saki there?" God, he hated talking to people on the phone. Everything was so polite and squeaky clean.
"Who is this?"
"Can you tell her Bakugou called?"
The personality of the guy on the other line seemed to flip a switch. "Am I supposed to know who that is?" He asked, voice suddenly shrill.
"A friend of Saki's."
"You're not even supposed to know her name."
"What?" This was frustrating. No wonder Saki didn't like people calling her for no reason.
"Who the fuck's on the phone?"  A quieter voice spoke up.
"It's none of your GOD DAMN BUSINESS!" Kotarō shrieked, followed by a thud and an "OUCH!"
"LIKE HELL IT IS!" The second voice was louder this time, loud enough that Bakugou could recognize Saki in it, despite how phones always seemed to change the sound.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Saki? It's Bakugou."
"Ahhhh. What's up?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Meet me at Drive-in Tori in half an hour."
"Got it."

***

Thirty minutes later, Bakugou found himself sitting in a back booth at that stupid chicken place, watching the leader of his gang swirl chicken around on the table's grill.
"So, what's up?" She asked, twirling the orange streak in her bangs around her index finger.
"This is going to sound really weird, but I need relationship advice."
She raised her eyebrow. "Relationship advice?"
"Yeah."
"You want to ask the legendary Saki Nikaidō, leader of the Dorami gang, for romance advice?"
"No! Not that kind of relationship!" Bakugou insisted, face heating up. "It's friendship."
"You have friends?"
"No. Just one. And I'm really fucking it up." Bakugou swallowed.
"Okay, tell me the whole story." Saki requested, plucking a cooked piece of chicken off the grill with her chopsticks and placing it in her mouth.
Bakugou let his tongue do the work, recounting the whole story about Kirishima from when they met to that morning. He tried to leave the gang warfare out of it, but it got really hard toward the end, especially when Saki spoke up again.
"It sounds like you really like him if you want to protect him from the other gang."
"I don't know HOW I feel, Saki. I actually LIKE being around him and helping him and making him smile, but I don't feel that way about anybody else. It's weird. I can't stand it."
"So, if the rival gang marked him as a target, why haven't they come to you about it? Normally that's standard gang etiquette."
"They did." Bakugou admitted. He knew he shouldn't be telling anybody about this, that Kirishima's life was at stake, but if they didn't know he blabbed, then what could they do about it?
"They issued a challenge for tomorrow night at the cliff. Kirishima's life is on the line."
Saki was silent for a moment, but eventually she spoke.
"The same thing happened to Owada and Ishimaru."
"What did they do?"
"Skipped town."
"I can't...I can't do that. Kirishima won't even speak to me."
"Whatever you do, don't take the challenge. Just get Kirishima to lie low for a while."
"I can't do that EITHER Saki." Why haven't the others been targeted?"
"Because nobody knows enough about me and Celty to do anything, and nobody messes with Uotani."
"Fuck."
"Look, Katsuki, these challenges are dangerous. I lost my life to one." Saki seemed to realize what she said two seconds after it came out of her mouth. Her hands moved up, almost as if to catch the words that had already escaped.
"What are you talking about?"
"Uh..."
"Saki..."
"Okay, promise not to tell a soul?"
"Promise."
"I'm a zombie."
"You're insane is what you are."
"No, really," she insisted. "One minute, my bike is hurdling over the edge of a cliff, and the next minute I'm waking up in some haunted ass house surrounded by screaming zombie girls."
"Saki, this isn't a fucking joke."
"I'm serious." She insisted. "Look," her eyes darted around the restaurant sketchily before her hands pushed her chin up. To Bakugou's surprise, her head came clean off.
"What the fuck?" He gaped.
"This is nothing compared to Celty. She doesn't have a head to begin with."
"So...you're really..."
"I died in ninety seven."
"And the rest of your idol group...?"
"All dead. Even our dog. Kotarō isn't though."
"That's messed up."
"All in a day's work, I guess." Saki shrugged. "Anyway, you won't have a weird sunglasses wearing moron to bring you back, so don't go and get yourself killed like I did." Saki gently placed her head back on her neck.
"But...Kirishima..."
Saki sighed deeply. "Is he really worth dying over? Think about it."
Bakugou HAD thought about it. Kirishima had a lot more to give the world than Bakugou ever could. He was friendly and a great mechanic. He had a lot more people to be sad if he died than Bakugou. And if Bakugou died, Kirishima wouldn't have to go on every day blaming himself. Kirishima wouldn't have to lose his ONLY friend.
Bakugou didn't have a thing to lose.
But Saki would stop him if he said all that, and he couldn't afford having the other gang know he tattled.
"Fine." He stated. "I won't go."
"You're making the right choice."
He wasn't.