Blood Covered Flowers

Chapter I - Coughing Fits

BEEEEP! BEEEEP! BEEEEP! Kirishima's alarm rang and rang, the redhead shutting it off with a gentle press of a button on the back of the alarm. The clock read 6:30 am in flashing numbers. 

"Shit! I'm not going to have enough time to get ready!" He exclaimed and quickly rushed out of bed. He ran into the bathroom and started combing and teasing his messy red hair, but of course the day of his most difficult final exams it was deciding to fight against him.

"Ugh, c'mon! Just stay up damnit!" he struggled, frustrated. He started to panic, even though he didn't even have to be at his first period class for another 2 hours and almost admitted defeat against his difficult hair until he spotted his blue workout bandana.

"Yes! My savior." He sighed as he picked up the blue patterned fabric and wrapped it around his head, finally getting his hair back to its normal spiky position. He finished brushing his teeth and put on his uniform hurriedly. He quickly pulled on his shoes and slinged his bag over his back, and grabbed his keys, but right before he reached for the door handle, an uncomfortable feeling creeped up his throat, and a long painful cough followed soon after. Kirishima covered his mouth and when he removed it, a small patch of blood was revealed on the palm of his hand. The hell? He thought to himself. He shrugged and wiped off the blood with a paper towel, not thinking much of the situation as he walked out of his dorm.

He walked down the crowded hallway surrounded by people talking, couples holding hands, but he didn't pay them any mind. With music playing softly in his ears and his nose in his language arts book he was SUPPOSED to study. He quickly walked, muttering important things to himself.

"Jeez, Bakubro is going to scold me so hard if I fail this final. I really should've studied more." He sighed. "I'm probably going to be the only one who flunks this final, huh?" He muttered as he walked through the door. When he walked in, the first thing to catch his eye was his friends Kaminari and Ashido frantically flipping through their textbooks, stressed looks implanted on their faces. Guess I actually won't be the only one after all. He thought, letting out a soft laugh followed by a small smile. He sets down his things and takes a seat at his desk. Since he showed up last, the teacher was already handing out the tests. His teacher sets the paper down on his desk and he takes out a pencil and begins his test. 

The class goes by surprisingly quickly and he hands the paper to his teacher, feeling confident because he knows he got at least a good portion of the test right, he hopes anyway. He's just relieved it's done at all; it was the third and last final for their language class. He starts to pack up his things since the bell was going to ring in a few minutes, and that feeling crawls back up his throat again, the same feeling he got when he was in his dorm earlier, but this time he was in a classroom full of other students. The coughing fit began, and it was just as uncomfortable and painful as the last one, if not a little more. Kirishima covered his mouth with his left hand, his other lightly gripping his chest.

"Woah, woah dude!! Are you okay!?" Kaminari asks with a worried look. "That's a pretty nasty cough you've got..."

"Yeah! Just some weird cold or something probably." Kirishima removed his hand and saw another small patch of blood on his hand. "It started this morning but I'm not too worried about it." he told them with a reassuring grin.

"Are you sure?! That didn't sound like a cold kind of cough at all. It sounds a little worrisome, maybe you should go see Recovery Girl?" Ashido suggested.

"Nah, it's just a cough, I'll be alright! Plus, Recovery Girl has other students like Midorya to worry about." Kirishima smiled, lightly scratching the back of his neck. He waves goodbye to Ashido and Kaminari and rushes out of the classroom at the sound of the bell. Kaminari and Ashido give each other a mutual worried glance.