Battle of Wills ~ (bakugou x reader)

Chapter Fourteen

The next day, you walked out of your homeroom class with Sakura chatting animatedly to your right. The Sports Festival was only two days away now, and the school was loud with excited talking.

"You aren't participating, right (Y/N)?" the brunette asked inquisitively.

You shook your head. "Nope."

Sakura smiled brightly. "Aika isn't either. She wanted to, but she didn't have any time to prepare with her jobs and all. So you should sit with us in the student section!"

"Ah, I don't know..." you said, scratching the back of your neck. "I wasn't really planning on going at all..."

Sakura frowned at you before widening her eyes pleadingly. "Pleaseee...?" she asked.

You laughed as the two of you rounded the corner. "We'll see."

"Hmmm..." Sakura murmured, dissatisfied. She began to split away from you as she reached the entrance to her next class, but not before pointing two of her fingers at her eyes and then flipping them to point at you.

"We will talk more at lunch, young lady."

"Okay," you giggled as Sakura slipped into her classroom.

Not a few seconds later, you heard a deep voice calling your name.

"Hey, (Y/N)," the purple-haired boy from your homeroom called sternly. "I need to talk to you."

You rolled your eyes as he came up to you. "What do you want, Shinso?"

From the first day of school, Shinso had made an impression on most of the students of the General Studies Course. He was determined to get into the Hero Course at any cost necessary.

As time went on, you began to notice that the people close to him would occasionally fall into trance-like states, almost as if hypnotized. At first, you had hypothesized that Shinso was part of the same rehabilitation program you belonged to, but his continued passion to be a hero was evidence to the contrary.

His quirk was something you could easily counter. Shinso had the power to influence the cingulate cortex in the brain, a region responsible for decision-making and motor control. Essentially, his quirk was brainwashing. However, if you used your own quirk to maintain the normal flow of information in your cortex, there wouldn't be any opening for his power to take hold.

But Shinso had figured you out. When he tried to manipulate you, it wouldn't work. He was one of the few people in the school that knew the true potential of your quirk, so him asking to talk with you made you nervous.

"I heard you aren't participating in the Sports Festival. Why?" he demanded. "Your quirk could elevate the reputation of our class--the pro-heroes who never glanced at us before might finally take an interest. You could help us, but instead you're being selfish."

You snorted. "I'm the one being selfish? I don't care about recognition. If you want to be seen, win on your own merit."

Shinso sneered, narrowing his eyes at you. "You obviously don't understand the kind of opportunity this is. I know naive girls like you may not be able to realize the kind of impact doing well in the Sports Festival can have on your future, but you should trust me that you won't regret helping us."

Was he calling you dumb? "I realize it perfectly well. I just don't care. I'm not participating," you seethed. Sexist piece of shit.

A ways down the hallway, Bakugou turned the corner, walking towards his next class. He could hear angry voices arguing from a distance ahead of him, but he disregarded them. He didn't care about the problems of fucking extras.

However, as he got closer, he noticed your agitated figure. Some purple-haired freak was yelling in your face, calling you naive, and even grabbed onto your arm as you tried to leave. Bakugou's hands began to spark.

He's dead.

But before the blond could intervene, he saw you push a finger into the boy's chest. A zap of electricity jolted from your hand into his chest, causing his lavender hair to stand up even straighter than it did before as the static entered his body.

Bakugou smirked proudly. You could handle yourself.

"Fucking--" Shinso started, his previous irritation turning into full-blown anger.

"Ms. (Y/N)!" a deep, orderly voice carried across the thinning hallway. One of the teachers had noticed the commotion. "You are not allowed to use your quirks on other students. The principal will be notified of this," the suited man declared.

As the teacher eyed the two of you suspiciously before ducking back inside his classroom, Shinso barked out a laugh.

"You had it coming," he said arrogantly, harshly colliding his shoulder with yours as he walked past. "Think about what I said. Prove that you aren't as dumb as you look."

"Shinso..." you fumed in anger. Suddenly, his movements jerked to a stop mid-step. His head slowly twisted around at an unnatural angle to face back towards you.

"Don't mess with me again," you whispered dangerously. "Or else you'll get what's coming to you."

Shinso's eyes widened in fear at his paralyzed body. Although he knew what your quirk was, he had never seen you use it on someone else.

You let go of your grip on him as you passed his frozen figure. Shinso immediately keeled over in a fit of coughing, tenderly rubbing his neck.

"Fucking bitch," he muttered after you as you disappeared into your classroom.

Looking around to make sure no one had seen his moment of weakness, Shinso brushed off his clothes. Satisfied that the hallways were abandoned, he began to walk back towards where he came.

"Not so fast."

Shinso abruptly stopped in his tracks to look up at the source of the low, angry voice.

He gulped when his vision met a pair of fiery red eyes.

***

As you sat down in your homeroom class the next day, you noticed a certain seat remaining conspicuously empty. Shinso was absent.

Maybe I was too rough with him, you pondered.

Whatever. That asshole deserved it anyway.

It wasn't until after lunch that the purple-haired boy showed back up to school. He sat down in his seat a few rows ahead of yours in math, looking grim. It was only when he turned around a few minutes later to pick up a pencil that had fallen to the ground that you saw it.

A large angry red burn mark wrapped around his neck in the shape of a hand print.

***

Author's Note:

Hey, y'all! I know this is kind of short, but I'm planning on uploading a few chapters today (my writing is getting way ahead of what I've actually posted on Wattpad lol). Also, sorry if this seems OOC for Shinso--I mentioned earlier but I'm not caught up on the more recent episodes of MHA so I've only seen a bit of his character.

Thanks again for the reads, votes, and comments :)