𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐄 ❖ MY HERO ACADEMIA

chapter 96 - double whammy

Shoto had already been suspicious.

Earlier that day, he'd caught sight of Bakugo in a heated exchange with that pink-haired girl, the one who always seemed to have it out for Komi. It was unusual, and Shoto didn't trust unusual. Especially not when it trailed so closely behind something involving her. And the strangest part? It didn't look like Bakugo was fighting with her the way he normally fought people...no, this was defensive. Protective, even.

It gnawed at him.

Komi and Bakugo... Bakugo and Komi.

His sister -beloved, fiercely protected, etched into his soul like a name in stone. The place she occupied in his heart was immovable. Eternal.

And Bakugo... a friend, certainly. Loud, volatile, with more bark than bite but an undeniable fire behind his eyes. He was unpredictable. Complex.

But still. His sister and Bakugo.

But it was his sister and his friend. Komi and Bakugo.
Shoto wasn't sure how to feel about it, given that Shoto was always going to take Komi's side is something happened. Not that he was praying for it, but it would keep a close watch on it. That's what brothers are meant to do right, keep watch? It was in movies and books, so it had to be true, right? Shoto wasn't sure how to feel about it. But he knew one thing: if something happened, he'd take Komi's side without hesitation. That's what brothers do, right? Protect. Watch. Intervene when needed. Again,he read that in a book once.

And now, 7pm at night, as the whole class joins together to make some dinner, Komi and Bakugo were chatting away by the fridge as Shoto kept an ever so close eye on them.

"And whoosh! The Hero, Jackle just shoots past the villain and uses his lasso to... uh, Todoroki?" Midoriya paused his story of the most recent hero drop as he noticed his friend wasn't actually listening, but glancing off. "Todoroki, is everything okay-"

Midoriya followed it.

And there they were, Komi and Bakugo. Their proximity was not accidental. Komi was laughing softly, and Bakugo, jeez that boy, Bakugo had the look of someone standing in sunlight for the first time. Not the usual grimace. Not even the resting scowl. Just... peace. Almost reverence.

Midoriya fought back the instinct to squeal. Barely.

He whipped his head away like a child who'd accidentally walked into a horror movie. Or maybe a love story. Same difference, right?

But with his quick head swivel, Shoto glanced to Midoriya curiously. "Is something the matter?"

Midoriya scoffed, brushing his hand away. "What? No, pfft!... Anyway...."
You see, usually Midoriya was no good at lying (at first), but luckily for him, when Shoto sees something was clear as day in front of him, he doesn't analyse it like he doesn't the things set within the grey area.
He tried to act natural, which meant violently sipping his water and making a noise like a dying car engine.

All of a sudden, there was a scream.
But now that the class has been living together for quite some time now, they were able to decipher the screams into categories based on who screamed it. Tsu and Komi were some of the only girls in the class that didn't scream on the regular, so they were a little more unknown, more nonchalant, if you will.

"That was Mina, I believe." Iida calculated, raising those office siren glasses of his.

"She's just figured something out." Sero added, nodding his head to Kirishima in clarification to see if his hypothesis was correct.

"Yeah, and it's something juicy." Kirishima nodded his head, glancing over to Denki. "We'll probably find out about it in a minute."
Denki was still fuzzy and slightly out of it due to his near quirk overload in training, so he just turned around, very surprised to hear his name.