𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏⁱ

XXXI

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Jinyoung stormed into the house with a face like thunder an hour later, Hyoseop following behind him, angry but less obvious about it.

They took Jungwon to the furthest point away from where Aeri was ordered to stay with her dad and Hyunjin and they didn't come out for half an hour. Aeri wasn't allowed to know why, no matter how much she pouted or begged to know why they were angry with him. She suspected it had something to do with what Jungwon said earlier and the way her father and brothers looked at her as if she wasn't supposed to ever hear those words but even when she repeated them, Aizawa just flinched and told her she couldn't know until she was older.

Her good mood and the bliss of her interaction with Bakugou were long gone after the argument. She wasn't even allowed to retreat to her bedroom just in case she'd try to listen in to what her brothers were talking about.

She couldn't even go on her phone without them both looking over her shoulder at what she was doing, making sure she wasn't doing any research on things she shouldn't be. She took a wild guess and figured that her dad would be blocking anything to do with Dalnim on the Wi-Fi router so she wouldn't be able to look it up when she was alone.

"Stop!" Aeri huffed. "I get it, I'm not allowed to know anything so can you stop hovering? If I'm not allowed to my room, you can at least let me sit on the other end of the couch."

Her dad and Hyunjin glanced at each other before they shuffled away from her to the opposite side of the couch, though they still kept a close eye on her, feeling slightly guilty when they saw her furrowed brows and pout. Nari sensed her mood and curled up on her lap despite still being slightly damp.

Jinyoung emerged looking calmer than he did when he arrived, Hyoseop and Jungwon were following. Hyoseop looked troubled and Jungwon looked like he'd just seen a ghost—Jinyoung must've threatened him. Her older brothers went to leave without even saying goodbye. Aeri frowned and ran after them.

"Hey!" She stormed up behind them as they were opening the door. "Can you guys at least tell me why I'm not allowed to know?" She questioned exasperatedly.

"Not now Aeri," Jinyoung sighed, irritated.

"It's not up to us..." Hyoseop started, Jinyoung gave him a look that made him shut up. Jinyoung walked toward her and pulled her into a light hug. She didn't hug back but he didn't seem to care.

They were gone a second later. Aeri went straight to her room and no one bothered chasing her. They had ruined her mood and they knew it.

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Aeri didn't speak to them for the rest of the evening, nor did she speak to them the morning after. She didn't come down for dinner or breakfast, didn't talk to them in the car on the way to school, and even ignored Hyunjin's begging and bribing when he offered to buy her a pair of Naked Wolfe platform heels.

They knew she was capable of ignoring them for weeks if she put her mind to it, especially when she was holding a grudge. And if they were all collectively keeping a secret from her that would dramatically affect her life, then she would ignore them until they couldn't take it any more and told her.

It was the day of the hero exam today. They still didn't know what they were doing but Aeri had heard a few of her classmates speaking the rumour that they'd be going up against the robots again but she didn't believe it. They wouldn't do the same thing three times, not when they'd already used them in the entrance exams and the sports festival.

She walked alone to the classroom, aware of her twin brother trailing after her silently. He hadn't made an attempt to talk or apologise to her yet, instead just staring at her with golden eyes full of sorrow whenever she passed by him.

Bakugou was by her side in a second, as soon as she got through the doors, dragging her over to his desk like they normally did in the mornings and forcing her down by the shoulders to sit on the surface of the table whilst he took his chair.

"Someone's eager," She teased though Bakugou noticed her voice sounded flat and her smile seemed forced.

He narrowed his crimson eyes at her. "What the fuck's wrong with you?" He asked, probably way snappier than he intended.

Aeri frowned. "Nothing's wrong with me,"

"Don't lie, I can tell." He replied. Aeri blanched under his scrutiny.

"Family argument." She said simply, not bothering to reveal anything more. He hummed in reply and looked over to Jungwon who sat alone at his desk, sulking.

"Is that why your brother looks like you murdered his damn grandma right in front of him?" Bakugou questioned, his forehead creasing as he frowned.

"He was the one who started it and then everyone else got involved because he said something I was apparently never meant to know about and now I'm ignoring all of them." She glared, the muscle in her jaw feathering. She caught sight of a certain green-haired boy entering the classroom and an idea clicked into her head. She turned to Bakugou with a mischievous look.

"Why are you lookin' at me like that..." He lifted an eyebrow.

"Need you to help me," She started, lowering her voice so Jungwon, who was most definitely trying to listen in wouldn't hear. He nodded urging her to go on. "Can you distract Jungwon for me? Need to get information out of Midoriya."

"Why him? Why not literally any other person in this room?" Bakugou scowled at the mention of the boy he hated so much.

"Who else will know very specific details about heroes?" Aeri clapped back. "Just make sure Jungwon doesn't see me and if he does, stop him from coming over to me."

Bakugou huffed but he stood up anyway, trudging over to Jungwon and slamming a heavy palm onto his desk. Aeri teleported to the back of the room, scaring the shit out of Midoriya and Uraraka in the process.

"Deku," She started, keeping her eye on Jungwon. "What do you know about something or someone called Dalnim and the Female Moon Legacy?"

"Are you asking because you want to know how much I know about your family? or because you need to know something?" He asked sceptically, his hand over his heart.

"What's Dalnim?" Uraraka asked, Aeri shushed her with a finger to her lips.

"I need to know what they are because the family is keeping something from me." She said. Midoriya looked to Jungwon and then to Aeri, understanding why she came to him.

"Dalnim is the Korean Goddess of the Moon, I don't know anything about the Moon Legacy, I've already tried researching it but everything is kept very hush-hush in your family..." Deku told her bashfully, finding it awkward to tell someone that he'd actually spent hours looking up the quirks and details of their family and culture.

Aeri snorted. "Clearly. They won't even tell me, but they all get to know." She rolled her eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," He stuttered, giving her an odd look when she gave Bakugou a sneaky thumbs up and walked over to Mina. Bakugou wrapped up his conversation with Jungwon moments later and trailed over to join her.

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