Blossoms of the Dark

LXIV Shouto: Cripple

I thought everyone besides Hanada-chan and I went home.

So what are Midoriya and Bakugou doing here?

I wait for someone to make a move. It's the four of us in an empty hallway. Hanada-chan and I face them and they face us. No one says a word. Hanada-chan eyes each of us in a repeating pattern: Midoriya, Bakugou, me. Her face is impassive, but if her eye movement is anything to go by, she's just as confused as I am.

Midoriya is the first to speak. "H-Hi guys. It's good to see you're alright, Hanada. Everyone was worried about you. What did Recovery Girl say happened to you? Did you hear what happened?"

After another moment of awkward silence, Hanada-chan speaks. "Thank you, Midoriya-san. I fainted on impact with the ground, and Recovery Girl and Todoroki-kun filled me in on everything that occurred." She does a good job of hiding the wariness in her voice.

"San is too formal. Just call me Midoriya," he laughs nervously.

This ticks off Bakugou. "Cane Cripple, happy to see you're not a corpse! Now enough with the side talk! We need to talk about the real deal here! Icy Hot, the hell was that!"

Icy Hot? I'm utterly perplexed. "What was what?"

"Blasting ice at that big-brained idiot and keeping All Might out of the impact. Using that ice to destroy the idiot's limbs. Launching another wave of ice at those criminals at the landslide zone. I've been watching since the Quirk Apprehension Test, you love to show off. And today you took it to a whole n'other level. Just who the hell do you think you are, you Icy Hot bastard?!"

Is that what I've been doing? "I did whatever I could to survive and pass those trials. There's nothing more to it. Showing off isn't my specialty, that's yours. And Hanada-chan's and Midoriya's."

Hanada-chan raises a hand to cover her forehead and shuts her eyes. Midoriya's eyes nearly pop open from his eye sockets. Bakugou's eyes narrow in barely restrained anger. Should I not have said that? "Hey! Are ya asking to be punched? Don't put this nerd and cripple in the same group as me! They're nowhere on my level!"

"Kacchan! Please! Calm down! You're making a mountain of a molehill," Midoriya pleads. Bakugou turns to him and gives him a glare so dark that if looks were lethal, Midoriya would be a pile of ash right now. "P-p-please Ka-Kacchan," he whimpers.

"Do you have anything else to say? If not, could you please move? You're blocking our path," I say disinterestedly.

"I'm not done yet, Icy Hot. You! Cane Cripple! I don't buy your lie! You fell from the top of the joint only to lose consciousness when you hit the ground? What a bunch of crap! I watched your Trial of Battle. You layered a series of traps on every floor and nearly defeated All Might. You did all of that by just making small motions with your fingers. Had someone told me that you fainted after that stunt, I might have believed it. But what you're telling me is unbelievable. Someone who nearly won against the Number One hero of Japan claims to have fainted from just falling. Try to convince me that isn't bullshit!"

I'm about to speak in Hanada-chan's defense, but I hesitate at the last moment. I thought I was the only one who noticed Hanada-chan's finger motions. Once again, Bakugou's proven himself to be quite the genius. And thanks to those genius skills, he actually brings up a really good point. How could a girl with so many quirks and craftiness succumb to a simple fall?

I look at Hanada-chan. She's removed her hand from her forehead and is looking intently at Bakugou-san. She's alert. I watch her lean back on her heels and rest both hands on her cane. She lifts her shoulders in a small shrug and slightly cocks her head to the side. "So this was the real reason both of you stayed behind. When the poor girl wakes up tired, thirsty, and hungry, the first thing you'll do is question why she had to be hospitalized. And when she gives her explanation, you'll question it. Both of you were so desperate to know that you couldn't wait until school restarted two days from now. Are the two of you always this considerate?" Her voice is light, but it carries a heavy undercurrent of sarcasm and disgust.

Bakugou just sneers. Midoriya looks down and bows his head. "We're sorry,' he says. "It wasn't our intention to hurt your feelings. We're genuinely concerned for you. It just seemed weird that someone who stood up to All Might was taken out immediately at the start of the battle."

She's unimpressed. Her eyes are narrowed, and her lips twist into a frown. "I don't know. Yes, it's strange that someone as sharp as me was so pathetic during battle, but it is the truth. I fell through. I fainted on impact. Does that answer your question?"

Bakugou clearly isn't going to talk, so Midoriya stammers out, "Y-yes. That-that's all. Once again, Kacchan and I are sorry." He glances at Bakugou once, probably hoping that Bakugou won't blow up his face for putting him and himself in the same sentence. He's lucky that Bakugou just glares at him and does nothing more.

"Excuse us," I say. I beckon Hanada-chan and move past them toward the locker rooms. But Hanada-chan stops me and looks back at them.

"One minute!" she calls out to their backs.

They turn around. "Whaddya want? Deku said he's sorry!" shouts Bakugou.

"Deku for Midoriya-san. Icy Hot for Todoroki-kun. Raccoon Eyes for Ashido-san. Dunce Face for Kaminari-san. Shitty Hair for Kirishima-san. Earphones, Soy Sauce Face, Pink Cheeks, Four Eyes, Birdbrain for the others. And Cane Cripple for me. Why is my nickname so redundant? I mean, if you're not going to call me by my actual name, then at least come with an innovative nickname. I have tens of other nicknames which include 'cane' and 'cripple' in them. It's unimaginative."

"The hell! What is that supposed to mean!"

"It means what you heard. Come up with a creative nickname for me. Seeing how descriptive you are with all your other names, I'm sure you can think of something good for me."

"Should I call you 'Cocky Bitch' instead?" he mocks.

I sigh and beckon to Hanada-chan to just leave it alone. But she twists her cane, the light glinting off the silver dragon head. "I think you can do better than that. How about 'Dragon Girl?' Or 'Colorful Hair?' 'Classy Taste?' 'Charming Eyes?' Or perhaps 'Your Equal?'" She raises a brow at the last one as a challenge.

"My equal! How the hell are you my equal! You can't even walk to steps without that flashy and ugly cane!"

"Oh, but I recall that a few minutes ago you said that I nearly defeated Japan's Number One hero. That my victory was almost guaranteed. I have wits. I have smarts. I am a strategist. So even if I do walk with a cane, I'm not useless. What I lack in strength, I make up for with tricks. So prove to me that I am wrong. Try to convince me that what you said about me was bullshit."

His own words back at him ... I'm impressed.

Bakugou has lost this match of wits. He leaves, shouting that she's not on his level and never will be. But those are the hollow words of someone who lost so miserably. Midoriya, however, is just as impressed as I am, although he doesn't conceal it. His mouth is agape, and his eyes dart between Bakugou's retreating figure and Hanada-chan's smirk. He can't believe that someone outwitted Bakugou. In fact, he's so impressed that he just stammers out a goodbye and chases after Bakugou.

Once only Hanada-chan and I are left, I turn to her. I want to say something to her, but I don't know how to convey my emotions in words right now. She looks at me with an emotion I can't detect, but after the words she says, I'm grateful that I couldn't speak.

"Everyone underestimates the cripple, Todoroki-kun."

With that, she leaves and goes into the locker room. She looks back at me once with that same emotion and then goes in.

I'm still standing where I am. 

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