Red in Different Shades

14. Cram Study For Finals!

. .

Edited 14.MARCH.2022

Edited 15.OCT.2024

. .

Late Sunday morning.

It was only a few hours before noon when she received a well-timed phone call.

"Niwa, you gotta save me," Kirishima whined pathetically through her cell phone, dragging out the vowels like a man at the end of his rope.

Niwa smirked, already picturing the disaster. "Kirishima, what the hell are you talking about?" Amusement curling in her voice as she stretched across the wooden floor of the engawa. The summer heat buzzed lazily in the background, but this call had potential to make her day far more interesting.

"It's Bakugou!" Kirishima cried. "He's like some demon spawn. Smacking me around with textbooks! He's just gone to the bathroom, so I called you. You gotta help me out!"

Niwa chuckled under her breath. Of course, it's Bakugou. She could practically see him now, angry scowl, probably waving a book like it was a weapon.

"Where are you guys?" she asked, biting off chunks of her ice block as the sugary syrup melted on her tongue.

"Some café by the train station," Kirishima replied, voice muffled as if he were checking the coast was clear. "Bakugou refused to study at his place, and I wanted to get out of my house."

Niwa mulled over the distance, spinning the stick of her ice block between her fingers. "You guys can come over to mine if you want," she offered.

Kirishima's gasp was immediate. "Eh!? Really?" His enthusiasm bled through the phone.

"Sure, if you can convince—"

"Oi! Shitty Hair!" Bakugou's voice barked in the background, sharp and unforgiving.

"Crap, send me your address—gotta go!"

Beep... beep... beep.

Niwa lowered her phone, a fond smile tugging at her lips. She messaged her address to Kirishima and set the phone back on the sun-warmed wood beside her.

"Done?"

Niwa glanced up at Masuru, her second eldest brother, who stood with his usual stoic demeanor. Arms crossed, gaze skyward. If she didn't know him so well, she'd have missed the small twitch of curiosity in his brow.

"Yeah," she replied, rising to her feet and hopping down onto the grass.

"Friends of yours?" Fukushia, her eldest brother, called from the engawa.

Niwa turned, catching sight of him sprawled lazily on his side, half an ice block in hand, magenta hair spread haphazardly across the platform.

"They're coming over to study for finals."

Fukushia grinned as Masuru's girlfriend emerged from the house, balancing four tall glasses of ice water on a tray. "Hear that, Hanami? You finally get some Japanese guests."

Hanami smiled warmly. "That does sound lovely," she said, adjusting the tray in her hands. "I'll have to prepare some snacks."

Niwa's heart swelled with affection. "Thanks, Sis."

Calling Hanami her sister still felt new and exciting, like trying on a favorite hoodie that fit perfectly. The blush that always brightened Hanami's cheeks whenever Niwa said it never failed to amuse her. It was something Fukushia delighted in, too, though his teasing earned him the occasional swat.

"Break's over." Masuru's voice cut through the easy atmosphere. He pivoted smoothly, motioning for Niwa to follow him toward the patch of land they used for training. The pit, she lovingly called her, personal arena of doom.