Supernova

Chapter One Hundred and Two - The Mourning Of

I showed up at school on Monday feeling giddy. I kept thinking about the festival. Midoriya and Uraraka had been really giggly the rest of the night, and I made sure the four of us hung out a while longer so that their happy memories would have King and Queen Stronghold smiling widely alongside them when they looked back on them and recounted them.

It felt like a nice win to remind myself that I was really running out of time until the party four days later.

I still hadn't heard from Melanie, obviously. But I forced myself into an almost delusional hopefulness. She'd been real terrified when I threatened her family, and she would stay terrified of me. I could dreg out those old childlike feelings in her. It made me a little sad to think that my beloved sister had always been scared of me, and probably resented me even to this day, but those were problems to deal with after. When I had time. Which I would. I would have all the time in the world to fix everything I broke. Come party time, the necklace would light up. Melanie would come. I had no choice but to believe anything else.

I just had four more days of being a super cunt to everyone I loved.

Which I was.

The second I got to class, I walked right through the busy classroom, through the scent of caramel that made me want to vomit, and up to Midoriya's desk, where Uraraka was also lingering not at all as subtly as she was trying to be, and loudly announced to him that we had so much fun hanging out with him over the weekend! And boy did I ever wish we had time to do more of it before we left this coming weekend! Maybe we could come back and visit! Cue big queenly grin.

Midoriya damn near looked like I slapped him. He started stammering, and Uraraka even looked like she was dumbfounded, or about to cry, maybe both. I continued to play stupid and told her she'd looked so cute at the festival and I was really grateful we were such good friends. Neither of them had it in them to correct me or heaven forbid, lie, which was kind of what I was banking on. I slid into my desk, not bothering to tune into the whispers.

Classes were largely a blur and I barely registered anything within them. Which was intentional, because I couldn't really focus much on anything aside from breathing through my mouth and not puking. But one thing that did catch my attention was that I heard my name between a couple classes, and I knew the voice was not one that should have been speaking to me in public. I paused, considered ignoring it, and then turned. He wasn't that stupid.

"Hello, Kirishima," I told him plainly.

"Hey, uh, can I borrow your book real quick?" He asked, pointing down to the textbook I had taken to holding in my arms. I thought it gave me the studious look, and I was playing a part, after all. I raised an eyebrow. He raised a piece of paper. "I just need to jot something down. I'll give it right back."

"Make it quick," I told him. "We're going to be late for English."

He nodded and took the book when I handed it over. He lay the paper on top of it, scribbled on it for a second, and handed the book back. He took the paper, folded it up, and shoved it into his pocket. It was so bizarre, and I thought the whole thing so unnecessarily risky and pointless, until Kiri's red eyes darted down to my book, and he walked off.

As I stood there alone, I looked down at my book. A small sticker that hadn't been there before was now stuck to the front of it, and on it was written morning training Friday. I swore my stomach lurched at the thought, but I forced it away. I would find a way to make it work. It might be the last time I get to talk to Kiri. He at least deserved a goodbye.

No, I assured myself, as if I could will a victory into existence. It wouldn't be a goodbye. This was only the beginning.

You may not think that I'd made any ground with that nearly forced double date with Midoriya and Uraraka, but that's why you're not the brain of the operations. To be fair, neither was I. But if you did think that, you'd be wrong. The double date actually ended up being the keystone for how I was able to meet up with Kiri on the Friday morning, the day of the party. The make or break.