Shatter [BNHA]

Chapter Nine

 Kiyo reluctantly agreed and stayed to help her classmates as they planned for The Sports Festival. So many of them wanted her opinion and even her help with training for the event. She'd never felt this visible before. Everyone had always fawned over Shoto, even at school, he was always the one everyone wanted to impress and be close to.

She somehow was talked into staying late after school every night with her classmates so they could train together. Rather than calling a car to come get her, she took public transportation with some of her fellow classmates. Kendo didn't live too far away, so they walked most of the way together. Though Kiyo wasn't likely to ever admit to it, she liked having classmates who forced friendship on her. It was annoying at times, but it was nice to feel like someone liked her, for her and not because of her father and brother.

As Class 1B was staying late after school to train the night before The Sports Festival. Monoma had made the not so bright suggestion they all train atop a large plateau in one of the training gyms that Cementoss had helped create.

"What if someone falls?" Kendo frowned as she looked over the edge, they were pretty high up.

"Don't fall." Monoma said with a shrug.

"Brilliant." Kendo grimaced.

They broke off into pairs for sparring, Kiyo agreed not to use her quirk so she could help those who needed it with hand to hand combat. She was working with Kendo when she heard a panicked shout at the other end of the plateau as Pony slipped off the edge.

Before anyone had a moment to do anything, Kiyo jumped into action and sprinted to the other side. She flipped off the edge as Pony fell. Fire flared from the bottoms of her feet and she was able to reach her as the force of the flames helped rocket her closer to Pony. Kiyo caught her in her arms and maneuvered in the air so that her feet were facing the fast approaching ground before blasting an immense amount of fire from the bottoms of her feet so they were in a controlled fall. It was something she'd seen her father do many times.

Once she'd landed safely, Kiyo glanced down at Pony to see her staring up at her with wide eyes. She hesitated and started to ask if she was okay but her words fell away as Pony suddenly threw her arms around her neck with a squeal.

"Thank you for saving me, Kiyo!" Pony squeezed her tight.

"...sure..." Kiyo waited for the timid girl to release her before gently setting her on her feet.

"Are you guys okay?!" Kendo called down to them worriedly as everyone began rapidly climbing down to check on them.

Kiyo managed a silent nod.

"Nice save, that was a crazy reaction time." Tetsutetsu gave the cool girl a pat on the back.

Kiyo felt strange as they all praised her and swarmed around her. She wasn't used to this kind of attention, no one ever praised her before, she didn't know what to do or how to respond. Rather than respond, she stood there quietly feeling very out of place as her classmates commended her skills.

Realizing Kiyo was having trouble with all of the attention, Pony linked her arm through Kiyo's and offered her a warm smile. Her classmates were very strange. She accepted Pony's reassurance and the praise from the others in silence.

They decided to finish their training on the ground after that, and once everyone felt sufficiently ready for their plan for the Sports Festival, they decided to call it a night. Everyone walked to the station together, the guys were still talking about strategy and how they were excited to see the look of shock on Class 1A's faces when they realized their brilliant plan.

Kiyo realized as she was walking arm in arm with Pony, listening to the excited babble of her forced friends, that she had finally relaxed. It wasn't something she did very often. She was a little startled by the realization.

"Kiyo? You okay?" Kendo asked as she noticed the quiet girl with a perplexed expression.

Kiyo nodded. Though her classmates were still concerned.

"What is it?" Honenuki, a tall pale boy with beige hair and a face that somewhat cryptically resembled a skeleton, asked her curiously.

Kiyo hesitated, "...this is nice..." her voice was hardly more than a whisper.

"Aw!" All of the girls swarmed her and glomped her in a big hug.

Kiyo accepted the hug in stunned silence, freezing up as her classmates swarmed her. "...that was unnecessary..." She mumbled feeling a little embarrassed once they finally released her causing the girls to giggle.

Everyone soon went their separate ways, one by one until Kiyo and Kendo were all that was left, exiting the station together. Kiyo was pensive, contemplating what she would do during the Sports Festival. Part of her wanted to try her best to win, another part of her wanted to do as her father wished thinking maybe if she did he might finally tell her he was proud of her.

Kendo looked at the pensive girl and tried to make conversation hoping to pull her away from whatever was making her expression look so hopeless, "your family must be in such a tough spot figuring out who to cheer for tomorrow."

"...not really..." Kiyo's voice was laced with bitterness.

Kendo paused, "what do you mean?"

Kiyo shrugged as they reached the corner where they would part ways, "it doesn't matter...have a good night..." She said softly and turned in the direction of her home leaving Kendo staring after her worriedly. "...I don't matter..." She murmured under her breath once she'd gotten a few blocks away.

"Well that's a sad thing to hear." A voice that sounded vaguely familiar sounded from behind her. "I think you matter quite a bit."

Kiyo turned to see a young man she did not recognize. He had unruly raven hair, his skin had patches of dark scarred flesh outlined with medical staples in various spots. He was wearing dark pants, a white t-shirt and a dark jacket that was long like a trench coat but open in the front. The strangest thing about him was the pair of sunglasses he was wearing, despite it being dark outside.

She studied him for a moment, though she was certain she'd never seen such a person in her life, his voice had sounded familiar. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Dabi." He extended a hand to her in greeting, there were more medical staples and scarred flesh starting just below his wrist and stretching up into the sleeves of his jacket.

Kiyo didn't know why, but she accepted the hand he offered her and replied, "Kiyo."

His lips twitched and curled into a pleasant smile. It too seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "You go to UA." It wasn't a question, though she was in uniform so it was a fair assumption to make.

She nodded as she released his hand.

"The Sports Festival is tomorrow, right?"

Another nod as she continued to study him trying to figure out how she knew this stranger.

Dabi smirked, "I'll be rooting for you, Kiyo."

When he said her name, there was another spark of familiarity. He said it as if he'd known it all along as if it was something he was familiar with.

Kiyo frowned up at him, "Dabi isn't your real name, is it?"

He shook his head.

"What is it, then?" Kiyo asked, starting to feel frustrated with herself for not recognizing this person who very clearly seemed to recognize her.

Dabi held back a sigh, he knew it would be hard to fool her, but he didn't think she'd quite figured it out. He offered her a smile and gently ruffled her hair, "perhaps another time, I'll tell you. Good luck tomorrow."

Kiyo froze up at his touch. It was gentle and filled with warmth, and she knew in that moment she had felt it before. He was gone before she had the chance to respond. She placed a hand to the top of her head where his hand had rested moments ago. Only one person had ever done that. "...Toya?..." Her voice hitched.

That was impossible. Toya was dead.