Duplicity

Chapter 1

You felt your arms go numb from pulling yourself up over and over on the pull up bars, the music blasting in your ears. You didn't care though; you didn't miss a day of workouts. Before this year you never got to experience the luxury of a high-end gym like this, even if it wasn't high-end to everyone else.

You'd only been in Japan for four months for school, but you felt like you'd been there your whole life. You transferred for your second year of college from a community college back home. They didn't nearly have the same hero program back there like they do here. It's why you had to come; your parents didn't like that though. They felt as if you were spitting on them and the family business by running across the world, screaming about how you wanted to be a hero.

So you did it all on your own, you were going to be a hero, even if you had to do it yourself. With help from the transfer program of course.

You threw yourself on the mats of the gym floor with a sigh before taking a large gulp from your water bottle. You looked at your friend from the mirror behind you. Mina had also just got done with her set and looked at you with a smile.

"I have to remember to stop working out with you." She said, completely out of breath, bringing a smile to your face.

"Why does everyone say that? I swear I slow it down when I'm with people." You said as you took off your headphones, laughing at Mina's confused expression.

"If that was slowing it down , please never show me full speed. You do basically all muscles and abs."

As you went to speak you saw the blonde-haired show off walking up towards you from behind Mina.

"You two gonna stand here and talk all day or move so I can get to the equipment?"

You and Bakugo had known each other for a while. Granted you never went to UA with him and a majority of your other friends, but he was still pretty well-known all-around campus.

You looked away from his reflection in the mirror and turned to face him. You did your rough attempt at a size check by looking him up and down. He stood tense with his duffel bag over his shoulder while wearing a loose black tank top and dark grey joggers.

"Sorry, Kacchan. We'll move we're done anyway." Mina said picking up her stuff off the ground with a smile.

"Were we?" You asked, still unmoved from the floor, your eyes never leaving the boy in front of you. "I was thinking I still have some time left to run another mile or two before my first class."

Mina sighed; she already knew where this was going.

"You sure you want to risk that? You got Japanese II, right? You need all the help you can get with that accent you got." Bakugo said, making you slightly glare your eyes.

"I can run two miles in ten minutes tops." You replied

"Tch Ten? That's impressive for a beginner." He quipped.

At this point Mina had already sat back on the floor with her back against the wall, scrolling on her phone, while the two of you saw who could run two miles the fastest.

With a scoff you stood to your feet and walked over to one of the treadmills behind you and took your place.

"Well? Come on since you're so sure of yourself."

You two always challenged each other. You were both majoring in hero work and both held the number one and number two spot in the school. The second the ranking entrance exams happened, and he saw that he only led by 0.2, he knew you were competition. Plus, he wasn't going to allow some new foreigner in his home country outshine him.