Savior (My Hero Academia: Todoroki x OC)

Chapter 58: What We Learned

Early the next morning, I was up and making breakfast for myself in the kitchen. Winter break was officially over and I had a feeling this last semester of school was going to be hectic. Between regular classes, my work study, and preparing for final exams, I needed all the energy I could muster. That meant a filling breakfast was a must. A conversation with Mt. Lady last week had me trying to find the middle ground between my mother's strict diet and eating whatever I wanted. The amount of food wasn't as important as what I was eating. Making some simple substitutions like using chicken instead of beef, white fish instead of salmon, and swapping out my ramen and udon noodles for the healthier soba were the key. With all of that in mind, my new breakfast consisted of an egg white omelet with lots of vegetables, a piece of grilled bass, and some soba noodles in broth. 

My prep was almost complete when Bakugo walked in the front door, back from his morning run. It had been awhile since we'd been on the same routine. Even before winter break, we had been missing each other in the mornings. When I saw him remove the earbuds from his ears, I called out, "breakfast?"

He turned my way and gave me a nod before angling his head in the way of the boys bathroom. Not very talkative this morning, I thought before pulling out another piece of fish and a few more eggs. I placed two trays of hot food on the counter and seated myself on a barstool to start digging into my meal.

Bakugo soon made his way toward the kitchen, a low "thanks," the only sound he made before taking the seat next to me and eating his breakfast.

"I heard your work study went well. Sho told me you guys faced off against a villain and saved all the civilians. That's pretty impressive work."

I noticed the quick uptick of his lips before his face returned to sporting his signature scowl. "The only impressive thing is that we got there before Endeavor. I was faster than him," he boasted. "The rest was just child's play," he grumbled before shoveling bites of his omelet into his mouth.

"Anytime a villain gets put behind bars and no one gets hurt, it's a big deal. I couldn't manage it. Even the one time I thought we had complete victory, Kaminari ended up getting hurt because of my mistake."

"If that dunce got hurt, I'm sure it was his own fault."

"Technically, you're right. I froze up and if he hadn't pushed me out of the way, I would have been the one who got hurt. And it would have been much worse than the scratch he got." I cleared my throat, trying to rid myself of the bit of guilt I still carried. "Either way, don't diminish what you guys accomplished. Sho seemed pretty proud of the work you three did."

A low grumble was the only response I got and he didn't seem inclined to continue the conversation, so I let him be and we finished our food in silence. When some of our classmates began to trickle downstairs, Bakugo grabbed our trays, taking them to the kitchen to wash. I went to get ready for the day, pulling on my uniform and packing my bag. 

I was met with a warm hug from Shoto upon entering the common room. He kept one arm wrapped tightly around my shoulder as he escorted me on our walk to the school. Our classmates were coming in two and three at a time, loudly talking about their work studies. It seemed that not everyone had the chance to catch up yesterday and they were all chatting with each other quite loudly before Iida called us to attention.

"An auspicious New Year to you all! In today's class we'll be giving status reports. We will share what we learned, accomplished, and experienced over winter break. Everyone suit up and report to ground alpha!"

Everyone moved to grab their costume cases from the wall. I was surprised when the door was suddenly opened by Mr. Aizawa, just in time for several students to tumble out into the hallway.