𝙰𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 - 𝙺. 𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Seven

"Rokuda, focus," Aizawa reminded as he watched her concentration falter during quirk training. Her quirk, Solar Flare, allows her to collect energy from the sun's rays and store it within her body for future use. She's able to alter her own outer body temperature to extreme heats and after training her quirk with Aizawa's guidance, she newly discovered she could shoot out concentrated solar energy from her palms, which she was working on improving now.

Rokuda wiped a bead of sweat from her brow before taking a deep breath and trying to concentrate on channeling her energy into her right hand.  She watched as her skin began to glow, the colour slowly turning from a soft yellow to a fierce red before a beam of radiant light burst forth and scorched the grass beneath her.

"I can tell you're struggling," the teacher sighed knowing that it rarely took her this long to channel her quirk properly. "Whatever problems you have, leave them at the door when you get to school. There's no time for hesitation in the real world."

Rokuda frowned, he made it sound so much easier than it was. "Yes, sir."

"Good. I realize you've only just learned this move recently, but you've already lost progress. Work on shortening the length of time and effort it takes to build up the flare from your hands," Aizawa's stare was one of disappointment and it frustrated her. She was just having an off day... right?

Bakugou periodically glanced over at the redhead during training from his spot a few feet away. She cursed up a storm as she clenched and unclenched her fist, trying to harness her power faster by using physical movements to move energy along but it was clear she was struggling.

"Fuck!" She growled much louder than she'd intended. Her entire body emitted a soft glow for a split second before her arms turned a fiery orange hue like a searing fire poker as she emitted her quirk in frustration. She huffed as she closed her eyes to cool off and let herself drop to the ground, her arms and legs spread out as if she were going to make a snow angel in the now singed mostly green grass underneath her.

"Oi!" Bakugou shouted. "Get up, you fuckin' quitter!"

Her head tilted to the side his voice came from and she opened her eyes to glare at him. "I'm not a quitter."

He stalked toward her with quick strides before he kicked her shoe and scoffed. "Not what it looks like from here, you fuckin' lazy ass piece of shit."

"What the fuck, Bakugou?!" She pulled herself up from the ground, her lips pursed into a tight line from his antagonizing remarks as she propped her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes further at the blond in front of her.

"Good, you're angry. Now fucking use that and stop pussyfooting around!"

Rokuda blinked at him as she realized he was provoking her on purpose. She stared down at her hands and watched them begin to change colour along with their temperature before quickly fizzling out. Out of frustration, she smacked the side of her head. Once. Twice.  But before her palm made contact with her head a third time, Bakugou gripped her wrist and pulled it away.

"It's like...like a kink in a hose that I can't untangle," she groaned defeatedly. "The pressure's building but it won't release."

"Picture it in your head. The more real it seems the easier it will be," he suggested before staring at her wrist in his hand and quickly letting go. "Now fucking try again, quitter."

"You realize th-"

"Just fucking do it!"

Rokuda's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at her hand, imagining her power as water trapped behind a dam, bursting through the cracks and breaking free. She watched her palm turn quickly to an intense orange rather than the slow build up she'd been experiencing and she opened her fist to direct the energy out of her palm and into the empty space in front of her.