𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚗'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝 ☆ k. bakugo

27; contracts, strength, and trials

***

Knock knock. "Eicchan? Are you up?" Hikaru slightly opens the door to her bedroom.

Eli looks up from her laptop and gave a quick 'yes, mom'.

Hikaru took a deep breath as she opens the door wide and brought in tray-full of breakfast. "Good morning, I cooked you some breakfast."

The daughter does a double-take while typing away when she catches the tray that her mother was holding, she puts away the gadget in an instant. "Woah! What's this for?" She asks, amused.

The mother placed the food on her desk table; waffles with chocolate sauce on the side, some sliced-up fruits that Eli likes, and a glass of ice-cold water which she adores. "Oh, nothing. Just a little gift for you since you and your father will be going to Kamino tonight."

"Kamino?" Eli tilts her head, standing up and getting the glass of water first. Once she gulps down the first sip, she hums. "Hmm! You mean the contract signing for the experiments?" 

"Yep." Hikaru purses her lips, nodding slightly as she still wasn't fully approved of this idea. "I hope all goes well."

Eli beams. "Of course!! I wonder what experiment we will be doing today." She takes a fork and ate one whole waffle. She chews for a while then closes her eyes as she gulps down the delicious breakfast. "Considering that this will be a new team, they're gonna have to do those assessment tests on me, right?" She bites on another waffle.

A worried expression was put on Hikaru's face. "I... Yeah, I think so." She sighed, getting a bit nervous at this topic. How can Eli talk about this so freely like it doesn't hurt her physically at all?

"Better pack a lot of ice water then," She giggles, narrowing her eyes to the fruits next to her plate. "–Or else another overheat's gonna happen–"

"Eli." Her mother cuts her off, the older female puts her palms on top of her left hand which was resting on the table. 

Eli looks up at her, furrowing her eyebrows as she wears a questioning look. "What? What's wrong, Mom?"

Hikaru gulps, her heart heavy as the words spew out of her mouth. "Eli, you can still say no." Hikaru didn't want her to continue with signing that contract. Hikaru wanted her daughter to live healthy life, a life where she doesn't need to hide her scar-covered body. 

Eli was caught off guard, she slowly backed away from her mother. She chuckled nervously. "Heh, what do you mean? I already said yes–" The daughter began to grow weary of her mother. Eli thought her mother already agreed to this next step of her achieving her dreams. Why did she suddenly change her mind?

Hikaru rushed over, her desk chair falling as she pushed it away. "Eli! Listen to me," She cups her daughter's cheeks in her palms as she directly looks in her orange-red eyes. "You haven't signed that contract, right? So you can still say–"

Eli harshly removes the hands on her cheeks. Eli couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of all people, she thought her mother would be the one to cheer her on and believe in her, but this time... "Where's this coming from?" She asked, her voice shaky.